E-Book of Articles - World Federation of Music Therapy

Sutton, Julie; Beyond the Ordinairy
Persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with trauma
Numbing of general responsiveness
Persistent symptoms of increased arousal
Disturbance must cause clinically significant distress / impairment in
social, occupational or other important areas of functioning.
SYMPTOMS MUST BE PRESENT FOR MORE THAN ONE MONTH.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual more recently included an expanded
definition, including associated features, of which Acute Stress Disorder is a
disaster-related diagnosis 19 .
2. ACUTE STRESS DISORDER 20
Now included in DSM-IV and recognises:
The potentially high level of distress that an individual can
experience in the acute trauma phase;
The potential for this distress to predict PTSD (shows a potential
process leading to PTSD);
3 symptoms of dissociation (e.g. sense of numbing or detachment;
reduced awareness or surroundings; de-realisation; de-
personalisation; dissociative amnesia)
1 re-experiencing symptom
marked avoidance
marked anxiety
evidence of significant distress / impairment
SYMPTOMS OCCUR WITHIN 4 WEEKS OF EVENT AND RESOLVE WITHIN
THAT 4-WEEK PERIOD.
19 Associated features also include: organic mental disorders (as a result of head injury, toxic
exposure, etc.); adjustment disorder; substance use disorders; major depression; generalised
anxiety disorder, as well as grief reactions and other normal responses to an abnormal event.
20 DSM-IV as before
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