1sthealthnews.com

Stress disorders are more serious than simple stress caused by everyday living. A stress disorder is caused by an actual or perceived threat of death or serious injury to oneself or others and creates intense feelings of fear, helplessness or horror. Acute stress disorder occurs anywhere from two days to four weeks after such an event. Post traumatic stress disorder begins after a month has passed since the event occurred and can continue indefinitely.

The person’s response to such a traumatic event is to withdraw from it. The reactions of         acute stress disorder include:

·         A sense of numbing or detachment – an absence of emotional response

·         Reduced awareness of surroundings – being in “a daze”

·         A feeling of unreality – derealization

·         Feeling detached from oneself – depersonalization

·         An inability to remember what happened during the event – dissociative amnesia

Post traumatic stress disorder is the long-term result of a horrifying event. The reactions may include:

·         Persistently re-experiencing the event

·         Persistently avoiding stimuli that remind the person of the event

·         Persistent high arousal, including inability to fall asleep, irritability, exaggerated startle response and difficulty concentrating

·         These disturbances last for more than one month

·         These disturbances cause significant distress or impair important areas of life – social, work and family

No matter which form of stress disorder a person may experience, professional help is the best way to deal with the disorder. This is not a “self-help” problem. Only a professional can evaluate the problem and offer the right balance of treatments for stress disorders. Medication may be the best short-term treatment for an individual and only a doctor can prescribe medicine. Other forms of therapy may be needed, along with medication, to make sure the sufferer is given the best combination of treatments for the symptoms and underlying causes.

Stress disorders can be difficult to treat if the person who has the disorder cannot recognize it or feels hopeless about it. Many people who have stress disorder have a sense of a “foreshortened future”, and do not see themselves having a career, marriage, children or a normal life span. This loss of hope can prevent the person from seeking help in the first place. Friends and family can try to encourage the sufferer to get help, but unless and until the person chooses to try, no amount of encouragement will work.

The best chance for a person to recover from stress disorder is early intervention. The sooner a person gets help after a traumatic event, the better the chance for a meaningful recovery.