Signs & Symptoms of Acute Stress

Acute stress is a reaction that develops in response to severe stress, usually caused by one extremely upsetting incident. Acute stress normally lasts between a few hours and a few weeks, but the symptoms can be severe and include anxiety, detachment, disorientation, inability to concentrate and amnesia.

Anxiety

• People suffering from acute stress exhibit marked signs of anxiety, including sweating, flushing, trembling, and may verbalize feelings of fear and stress. Many sufferers of acute stress disorder avoid any person, place or object that reminds them of the traumatic event that they have experienced, and if they encounter these reminders, their anxiety worsens.

Detachment

• People suffering from acute stress often become detached from their surroundings, seeming unaware of things around them. They may act as if they are in a daze and may exhibit a blank look. This is often because the person is intently focused on flashbacks or images in their head of the traumatic event, and are not focusing on their surroundings.

Disorientation

• People suffering from acute stress may seem disoriented and confused. They may appear to have forgotten their own recent actions and repeat actions several times. They may become frustrated with their own confusion and become irritable.

Inability to Concentrate

• Acute stress often causes people to try to keep themselves busy in order to avoid reliving the event or thinking about it. They may appear restless and unable to concentrate on one thing for a long period of time. Their inability to concentrate can be aggravated by flashbacks of the event.

Amnesia

• Patients often exhibit complete or partial amnesia of the stressful event, and may be unable to recall important parts of the event or may appear to have forgotten the event entirely.