Trauma-and-stressor related disorders

• Reactive Attachment Disorder


  • Withdrawn toward adult caregivers
  • Evident before age 5 years
  • History of severe social neglect
• Disinhibited Social Engagement Disorder


  • Actively approaches and interacts with unfamiliar adults
  • Can be distinguished from ADHD by not showing difficulties in attention or hyperactivity
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder


  • Exposure to actual death, injury or sexual violence (direct experience, witness, learning that the event happened to a close family, repeated exposure)
  • More than 1 month
  • Heightened activity in the HPA axis
  • Requires trauma exposure precede the onset of the symptoms
  • Too much use of dissociation
• Acute Stress Disorder


  • Exposure to trauma (direct experience, witness, learning that event occurred to close fam, repeated exposure)
  • 3 days to 1 month after trauma exposure
  • If the symptoms persists for more than 1 month and meet the criteria for PTSD, then PTSD will be diagnosed
• Adjustment Disorder


  • Development of emotional or behavior symptoms in response to identifiable stressors occurring within 3 months of the onset of the stressors
  • If symptoms persist beyond 6 months after the stressor or its consequences have ceased, the diagnosis will no longer apply
  • May sometimes be diagnosed instead of bereavement if bereavement is judged to be out of proportion to what would be expected or significantly impairs self-care and interpersonal relations
• Prolonged Grief Disorder


  • Death, at least 12 months, of a person close to the bereaved individual (6 months for children)
  • Focused on loss and separation from a loved one rather than reflecting generalized low mood
  • Distress from a deceased person