Mental Illness

This category consists of those disorders, which are temporarily related to exceptionally stressful life events (acute stress reaction and post-traumatic stress disorder).

1. Acute Stress Reaction – There is an immediate and clear temporal relationship between an exceptional stressor (e.g. death of loved one, natural catastrophe, accident, rape) and the onset of symptoms.

The symptoms are dazed condition, anxiety, depression, anger, despair, over activity or withdrawal, and constriction of the field of consciousness. He symptoms resolve rapidly with in few hours if removal from stressful environment.

2. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder – This disorder arises as a delayed response to stressful life event (e.g. disasters, war, rape, torture, serious accident). The symptoms develop after a period of latency, with in 6 months after the stress.

It is characterized by recurrent and intrusive recollections of the stressful event both in flashbacks (images, thoughts or perception) and in dreams. There is an associated sense of re-experiencing of the stressful event. There is marked avoidance of the stressful events or situations that arouse recollections of the stressful event.