Conditions
TRAUMA AND STRESSOR-RELATED DISORDERS
Persons suffering from one of these disorders develop emotional and behavioural symptoms after exposure to a significant stressor or severely traumatic event.
These disorders include posttraumatic stress disorder, acute stress disorder and adjustment disorders.
Traumatic events associated with posttraumatic stress disorder and acute stress disorder include (but are not limited to) exposure to war, military combat, a violent accident, violent crime, natural or man-made disaster, kidnapping, terrorist attacks, threatened or actual assault, threatened or actual sexual violence, systematic physical or sexual abuse and sudden, catastrophic medical events, including a medical catastrophe in one’s child. It also includes indirect exposure through learning about violent or accidental events occurring to a close family member or close friend.
In an adjustment disorder, a person develops emotional or behavioural symptoms in response to an identifiable stressor; however, the symptoms do not meet diagnostic criteria for a more specific diagnosis, such as acute stress disorder or PTSD.