PSYCH 3830 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Distressing, Panic Disorder, Agoraphobia
9 May 2018
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Monday January 22 - Lecture 4
DSM clumps similar disorders together. Find the DSM online through the library.
Trauma and Stressor-Related Disorders
1. Adjustment Disorders - developed in response to an identified stressor. Also develops
within 3 months of the stressor. IT IS NOT BEREAVEMENT (it is not due to the death of
a loved one).
○ Response to a typical stressor. This stressor can be anything. The loss of a job,
housing problems, a separation, deployment, a fire. Almost anything where the
person goes “I was fine, then this happened” the person knows what sets it off.
○ Symptoms are either:
i. Marked distress that is OUT OF PROPORTION to stressor. The person is
more upset than they should be.
ii. The person has significant impairment in important areas of functioning.
iii. Symptoms do not last longer than 6 months. If the person is still upset
after 6 months they probably have some other disorder.
○ Diagnosed based on whether the person has depressed mood, anxiety, mixed
anxiety and depression, disturbance of conduct, or mixed disturbance of
emotions and conduct.
2. Acute Stress Disorder - happens within 3 days to a month after. Does not long laster
than a month. Symptoms of:
○ Intrusion - recurrent involuntary memories. Dissociation (flashbacks) loses track
of where they are. They come up out of nowhere. Distressing dreams.
○ Negative mood - lack of ability to feel happy and positive emotions
○ Dissociative Sx (symptom) - altered sense of reality of your surroundings or
yourself. Big blank in memory that may or may not get filled during treatment.
○ Avoidance Sx - avoiding things that remind you of the traumatic event. Avoid
external reminders
○ Arousal Sx - having trouble sleeping, angry and easy to set off, hypervigilant,
3. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - 1+ months after event. Can last a lifetime.
○ Intrusion sx
○ Persistent avoidance
○ Negative alterations in cognition and mood
i. *negative events about themselves or the world*
ii. Blame themselves for the trauma
○ Arousal symptoms
Both Acute Stress Disorder and PTSD:
The person has experienced trauma - exposed to actual or threatened death, serious injury or
sexual violence in one or more of the following ways:
○ Direct experience/there when it happened/happened to them
○ Witness in person the event as it occurred to others
○ Learned that this event happened to a close family member or a close friend
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Trauma and stressor-related disorders: adjustment disorders - developed in response to an identified stressor. Also develops within 3 months of the stressor. It is not bereavement (it is not due to the death of a loved one). The loss of a job, housing problems, a separation, deployment, a fire. Almost anything where the person goes i was fine, then this happened the person knows what sets it off. Symptoms are either: marked distress that is out of proportion to stressor. The person is more upset than they should be. The person has significant impairment in important areas of functioning. Symptoms do not last longer than 6 months. If the person is still upset after 6 months they probably have some other disorder. Diagnosed based on whether the person has depressed mood, anxiety, mixed anxiety and depression, disturbance of conduct, or mixed disturbance of emotions and conduct: acute stress disorder - happens within 3 days to a month after.
