Case Study 10

Case Study 10: A 36-year-old man and his young son were driving through an intersection when another car ran through a red traffic light and struck them. The two were trapped in the car until a fire department rescue team freed them. The patient was bruised but not seriously hurt. His son had a broken leg. The first few days after the accident the patient was preoccupied with arranging care for his son and getting the car repaired. A few days later he began having recurrent distressing thoughts and images of the accident. Theses symptoms lasted for several weeks. The memory of his son’s screams after the car was struck seemed particularly vivid. The patient became irritable, had difficulty concentrating, and avoided talking about the accident. He went out of his way to avoid driving down the street where the accident occurred. As time went on he could no longer remember whether the traffic light was red or green when he approached it.

Diagnosis.

The 36-year old man has acute stress disorder. ASD is the result of the response to a traumatic event that a person experienced or witnessed usually involoving serious injury or death. After a few days, the person suffers several symptoms such as vivid memories, flashbacks, or a loss of awareness to his/her surroundings. The person may also feel weak and not have energy to work or even tell others about his/her disorder. In this case study, the 36-year old man clearly has ASD; he was involved and witnessed his son getting injured, he had vivid memories of his son's screams, and after a few days, he was unable to recognize the traffic light as green or red.

Treatment.
Recommended treatments for acute stress disorder are such as antidepressant medications and psychotherapy. However, they cannot completely heal the patient but can help to regain strength to be able to work and socialize again. Luckily, their ASD may also heal itself over time.


Source:
http://psychcentral.com/disorders/sx44.htm
http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/common/standard/transform.jsp?requestURI=/healthatoz/Atoz/ency/acute_stress_disorder.jsp