Feeling spaced out - It could be acute stress disorder!!

Different people react differently to different things. The human mind is indeed a curious thing. One can never quite tell what sets it ticking and what can make it go completely haywire. Every individual goes through a period of mental pain for any given reason. While most of us have the ability to come to terms with anything that life might throw at us, there are some who are sensitive by nature and may take a little longer to deal with life’s fluctuations or may just fold up and crumble when trouble strikes. The latter are most likely to be hit by acute stress disorder.

Acute stress disorder maybe a misleading term as it has nothing to do with everyday stress that we feel. We do use the words "stressed out" so commonly that the real meaning is often lost on us. So, acute stress disorder can also be termed as acute stress reaction or mental shock.

"Acute stress response" was first described by Walter Cannon in the 1920s as a theory that animals react to threats with a general discharge of the sympathetic nervous system. The response was later recognized as the first stage of a general adaptation syndrome that regulates stress responses among vertebrates and other organisms.

So, there we have it. When a person experiences or witnesses an incident which makes a deep impression on his mind and when his nervous system reacts to this pain-memory stimulus, then it turns to this mental condition called 'acute stress disorder'. It could happen to someone who has witnessed a gruesome accident or maybe to someone who has been in a violent riot. It could also happen due to any other event which is significant or is likely to create a lasting influence on the person's life, for instance, the death of a loved one. The general symptoms of acute stress disorder show up mainly in the form of symptoms of :

1. Feeling spaced out or unreal.


2. Dissociation.


3. Repressing the trauma.


4. Reliving the incident in vivid dream imagery, flashbacks or revisiting the incident mentally.


5. Losing touch with everyday reality.


6. Being obsessed with images of the trauma.


7. Avoidance of social contact.

When the mind represses the subject matter of the trauma, then the mind is consumed with thoughts of denial or keeping oneself away from feeling or coming to terms with what has happened. The person is thus constantly engaged in not allowing the memories to surface so that he can deal with them as a normal person would.  This creates a problem of dissociation or de-personalization, which in a sense, is a person trying to run away from himself. Acute stress disorder creates a dysfunctional person as he may not be able to perform routine tasks very efficiently.

Acute stress disorder is more often than not accompanied by anxiety and avoidance behavior. There could also be an unusually high threat perception resulting in exaggerated startle response and alertness.

However, it is important to differentiate acute stress disorder from a psychotic episode. There should be a triggering event for acute stress disorder to exist. It normally happens within a month of the traumatic event and a psychologist on primary evaluation will invariably look for the triggering factor within the time frame of a month or two. Long-term therapy and psychological counseling are the most beneficial lines of treatment. It again depends on the extent of damage to the parasympathetic nervous system which will decide the level and timeframe of recovery.