How to Cope With Acute Stress Disorder

Acute stress disorder is considered a part of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Acute stress disorder typically occurs 1 to 3 months after a traumatic event and is generally classified as temporary. The symptoms of this condition typically include depression, hypersensitivity to your environment, constant anxiety and flashbacks or night terrors.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Licensed therapist

Cope With Acute Stress Disorder With Therapy

1. Use exposure therapy to desensitize yourself to your trauma gradually. With the guidance of a licensed psychologist, you can use your imagination to do this or you can actually take a physical trip to the site of your traumatic event. Studies have shown that this therapy can help you relax when faced with reminders of your experience until you slowly release your acute stress disorder symptoms.
2. Sign up for an anxiety management class with at least two to four sessions to help you cope. This class will teach you effective tools that can help you solve the symptoms of acute stress disorder, including rational emotive therapy, meditation and relaxation breathing, stress inoculation training and cognitive restructuring.
3. Try alternative anxiety management methods, including breathing retraining, biofeedback, social skills training and distraction techniques. Your therapist can help you integrate these practices into your everyday life.

Cope With Acute Stress Disorder With Prescription Medication

4. Ask your doctor or psychiatrist to prescribe medication to help you with symptoms like anxiety, insomnia and restlessness. While each patient is different, medicines such as fluoxetine, imipramine, phenelzine and amitriptyline have all been used successfully in treating acute stress disorder patients.
5. Try antidepressants like Paxil and Prozac to counteract feelings of worthlessness or social anxiety. These should only be taken under the advisement of a physician.

Tips & Warnings

• Not every treatment works for every patient. To keep track of what is working for you, it is best to keep a journal of your daily emotional path. Note which medications or herbs you are taking, at what times you are taking them and how you feel during the day, including emotional triggers and lulls. Your therapist can interpret these notes to help you cope using customized therapy.
• In-vivo techniques, or those that put you mentally back into your traumatic event, can actually be more damaging if practiced by an inexperienced psychologist. Be sure to check out all references before choosing your therapist.
• Some PTSD symptoms occur long after a traumatic event, so be aware of feelings of depression and anxiety that happen even months later.