Get Help for Acute Stress Disorder Online
Acute stress is a rapidly developing reaction to a traumatic event
What Is Acute Stress Disorder?
Acute stress disorder (ASD) is a psychological disorder triggered by experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event. It may occur as a response to:
- The death of a close person
- Car accident
- The threat of serious injury or death
- Sexual assault
- Natural disasters, etc.
It can take from a few days to a month for the symptoms of acute stress to manifest themselves.
Seek help if you experience unwanted thoughts, detachment from reality, distress, constant irritability, insomnia, and avoidance of any thoughts or reminders of the traumatic event.
Untreated Acute Stress Causes Risk for Developing Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
Don’t let it happen
Your Treatment for Acute Stress Disorder in Three Steps
The path to relief requires consistency and dedication.
But no worries, we will guide you along the way.
Acute Stress Disorder Treatment at MEDvidi In-detail
Initial Visit
Follow-ups
Initial Visit
- An online 45-minute visit
- Symptoms check
- Identifying treatment goals
- Developing a treatment plan
- Prescribing medications
Follow-ups
Therapy
- Regular 60-minute visits
- Symptoms monitoring
- Working on thinking and behavioral changes
Prescription Management
- Regular 15-minute visits
- Symptoms monitoring
- Prescription refills
- Treatment adjustments
MEDvidi Insurance Providers
Check out the new MEDvidi insurance providers! Get quality therapy and prescriptions while saving on your online treatment. Insurance companies such as Tricare, AETNA, and Humana help us make mental health care more affordable for you.
Why Choose MEDvidi?
Board-certified doctors
Online prescription on the initial visit
Same-day online appointments
Integrative treatment for ASD
Personalized treatment plans and flexible follow-ups
Online Assessment for Acute Stress Disorder
The acute stress disorder assessment includes a consultation with a doctor on the symptoms and health history. A healthcare provider will rule out other psychiatric disorders and compare your symptoms, their number, and severity with those mentioned in the DSM-5.
In some cases, the patients are asked to respond to the DSM-4-based Acute Stress Disorder Scale (ASDS).
Assessments for ASD focus on examining the following symptoms:
- Intrusion symptoms: recurrent thoughts and dreams about the event, flashbacks, and distress from the events similar to the traumatic one.
- Negative mood: inability to feel happy and loved.
- Dissociative symptoms: feeling detached from emotions and one’s self, dissociative amnesia.
- Avoidance symptoms: avoidance of not just reminders of the traumatic event but also thoughts about it.
- Arousal symptoms: insomnia, alertness, rage, distractibility.
Take an ASD online assessment and know the results in a few minutes.
Even though ASD and PTSD have similar symptoms, causes, and treatment approaches, they differ in the symptoms onset and duration. ASD occurs within a maximum of four weeks after the traumatic experience. PTSD, on the other hand, can develop during three months or even longer after a traumatic event, and the symptoms must be present for more than a month.
Usually, ASD assessment for adults takes up to 30 minutes to be diagnosed. The duration of the consultation may be longer if the doctor will conduct additional exams for anxiety or depression and determine a detailed treatment plan. However, if the patient cannot describe the symptoms or describe the specifics of the health history precisely, an additional visit may be needed.
Treatment Plan for Acute Stress Disorder
- Alleviating the existing symptoms
- Preventing the development of post-traumatic stress disorder
Psychotherapy is the first-line treatment for acute stress disorder. The most commonly chosen options include trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT-TF) and exposure therapy.
Pharmacological treatment may be chosen for acute stress disorder to ease pain, insomnia, agitation, anxiety, or rage. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are chosen most often, while other options include other types of antidepressants and benzodiazepines.
Therapy for Acute Stress Disorder
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
Trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy for ASD is known to be an integrative approach. It covers the patient’s education on possible symptoms, coping techniques, and available treatment methods. It also includes cognitive restructuring and exposure, which help to develop a healthier emotional response to the reminders of the traumatic experience.
Exposure Therapy
There are different ASD therapy activities, and we will choose those that will work for you.
Pharmacological Treatment of Acute Stress Disorder
To reduce some of the acute stress disorder symptoms, medications can be prescribed. These include:
- Antidepressants: selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (sertraline, fluoxetine, paroxetine), serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (venlafaxine), and other types.
- Beta-blockers (propranolol).
- Corticosteroids (hydrocortisone).
- Anticonvulsants (lamotrigine, topiramate, tiagabine).
- Second-generation antipsychotics (quetiapine, risperidone).
- Morphine for initial pain management.
- Suvorexant for insomnia.
Receive a Prescription Online at MEDvidi
No long lines and waiting hours! At MEDvidi, medications can be prescribed online
during the initial appointment.
- Reduced errors in medications names and dosages
- Delivering prescriptions directly to the pharmacy of choice
- Obtaining medications faster
- Easily accessible prescription history
- The wide availability of services
- Online prescription refills
Useful Materials
Acute stress disorder requires professional attention so it will not develop into post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
However, it never hurts to be informed about treatment options and self-help techniques too. Explore our blog to know more about acute stress disorder, how to overcome it, and how to support a person experiencing it.
Start Acute Stress Disorder Treatment to Avoid Its Consequences
You will only need to follow the treatment plan prepared by a mental health expert.
Are you ready to start?