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No, many parents check their baby’s breathing often at first. Everyone has a lit-
tle obsessive thinking on occasion or some small ritual that makes them feel better. The
difference is whether a person likes to perform the ritual (but doesn’t have to) or feels
compelled to perform the ritual and feels extreme anxiety if unable to do so. You may
wash your hands a time or two after picking up garbage, but it is entirely different if you
must wash them a thousand times to prevent getting sick. The distress caused by a failure
or an inability to successfully complete the compulsion is a defining feature of OCD.
ACUTE STRESS DISORDER (ASD) AND POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD)
Both general and specific stressors were discussed in Chapter Eleven: Stress and Health.
Tw o t r a u m a - a n d s t re s s o r- re l a t e d d i s o rd e r s —acute stress disorder and posttraumatic stress dis-
order—are related to exposure to significant and traumatic stressors. The trauma, severe
stress, and anxiety experienced by people after 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the April 2013 Bos-
ton Marathon bombings, the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris and earthquake in Nepal, and
the 2016 attacks in Brussels, Orlando, and Nice can lead to acute stress disorder (ASD).
The symptoms of ASD often occur immediately after the traumatic event and include anxi-
ety, dissociative symptoms (such as emotional numbness/lack of responsiveness, not being
aware of surroundings, dissociative amnesia), recurring nightmares, sleep disturbances,
problems in concentration, and moments in which people seem to “relive” the event in
dreams and flashbacks for as long as 1 month following the event. One published study
gathered survey information from Katrina evacuees at a major emergency shelter and
found that 62 percent of those sampled met the criteria for having acute stress disorder
(Mills et al., 2007).
When the symptoms associated with ASD last for more than 1 month, the disorder
is then called posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In the same study (Mills et al., 2007),
researchers concluded that it was likely that anywhere from 38 to 49 percent of all the evac-
uees sampled were at risk of developing PTSD that would still be present 2 years after the
disaster. Furthermore, whereas the onset of ASD often occurs immediately after the trau-
matic event, the symptoms of PTSD may not occur until 6 months or later after the event
(American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Treatment of these stress disorders may involve
psychotherapy and the use of drugs to control anxiety. to Learning Objectives 15.10,
15.13. The video PTSD: The Memories We Don’t Want describes PTSD in more detail.posttraumatic stress disorder
(PTSD)
a disorder resulting from exposure
to a major stressor, with symptoms
of anxiety, dissociation, nightmares,
poor sleep, reliving the event, and
concentration problems, lasting for
more than 1 month; symptoms may
appear immediately, or not occur
until months or later after the
traumatic event. Watch the Video^ PTSD: The Memories We Don’t Want
CCacute stress disorder (ASD)
a disorder resulting from exposure
to a major stressor, with symptoms
of anxiety, dissociation, recurring
nightmares, sleep disturbances,
problems in concentration, and
moments in which people seem to
“relive” the event in dreams and
flashDacMs for as long as month
following the event.
What stressors and types of trauma
might refugees fleeing war-torn countries
experience?