Distinguish between adjustment disorder, acute stress disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder with respect to the nature of the precipitating event, the symptoms required for diagnosis, and the duration of the symptoms.

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What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Distinguish between adjustment disorder, acute stress disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder with respect to the nature of the precipitating event, the symptoms required for diagnosis, and the duration of the symptoms.
Ans: Adjustment disorder may be considered the least severe of the these three trauma- and stressor-related disorders. Unlike acute stress disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, adjustment disorder does not require the experience of a traumatic event but merely an event that is experienced as distressing. Moreover, its diagnosis does not require the specific types of symptoms required for the diagnoses of acute stress disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder; its diagnosis requires a more global experience of distress. The distress must occur within 3 months of an event and last no longer than 6 months. Both acute and post-traumatic stress disorder require the experience of a traumatic event, such as a violent assault. Both disorders involve the experience of specific categories of symptoms, such as negative moods, intrusions, and dissociative symptoms. The difference between the two disorders is their duration; acute stress disorder lasts from 3 days to 1 month, whereas PTSD lasts longer.