Can someone go from #Acute to #Chronic #PTSD How do we prevent it?
Acute stress disorder and PTSD are not fundamentally different. They are both responses to a traumatic experience, and they very closely share a symptomology. However, the duration of the disorders and the timing of their onset do set them apart. These elements of time have a bearing on a person’s diagnosis, but adequate treatment is critically important across the board for these trauma disorders.
Whereas an acute stress disorder diagnosis can carry with it symptoms of dissociation, a PTSD diagnosis involves a dissociative subtype when these symptoms are present. Dissociative symptoms involve disconnection from the surrounding world or from oneself. This can feel for them as if time is slowing down, as if they are out of their body, as if they are watching life through a movie screen or in a daze. Their memory may also be impaired, often forgetting details of the traumatic event itself. Because PTSD, by definition, lasts for longer than ASD, there is value in identifying those individuals experiencing dissociation who may need enhanced psychological care during their recovery journeys.
The nature of the connection between ASD and PTSD does not mean that all cases of acute stress disorder will eventually turn into post-traumatic stress disorder. Nor does it mean that all cases of PTSD necessarily follow ASD. But it is common for the two disorders to occur in sequence following an incidence of trauma.
t is very possible that early attention and treatment for someone with ASD could help to prevent the eventual onset of PTSD. When someone receives professional treatment, they can develop coping strategies before their disorder takes on a chronic hold. In other words, it is a mistake to dismiss acute stress disorder as normal distress that will simply work itself out over time because the very presence of the disorder indicates that the individual is struggling to process their traumatic distress on their own.
Neglect of either of these dangerous disorders can mean a serious increase in the person’s distress, expansion of their symptoms, and potentially the development of co-occurring mental health disorders, such as depression or substance abuse, as a result. The sooner a person receives treatment, the closer they are to the source of the trauma. The later a person receives treatment, the more they will have to wade through time and pain to heal their traumatic experiences and the deeper the symptomology. The vulnerable and fragile nature of these disorders calls for professional treatment from compassionate experts in complex symptoms and traumatic disorders.
At Bridges to Recovery, our knowledgeable clinicians and psychotherapists can determine a client’s complete and accurate diagnosis, as well as the holistic treatment plan for their optimal recovery path. The sooner they can connect with that path, the sooner their best life begins again.
