Full access
Clinical & Research News
Published Online: 7 December 2001

Spectrum of Stress Disorders Emerging?

Publication: Psychiatric News
Volume 36, Number 23
https://doi.org/10.1176/pn.36.23.0021a
At the moment only two psychological stress disorders are listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)—acute stress disorder following actual or threatened death or serious injury and posttraumatic stress disorder following the same events.
However, there may be a whole family of psychological stress disorders. This is the suspicion of Matthew Friedman, M.D., Ph.D., executive director of the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in White River Junction, Vt., and an expert on PTSD and its treatment.
For instance, Friedman conjectured, psychological stress disorders might result from flunking out of school, losing a job, losing out on love, or getting a divorce.
“Let me give you an anecdote,” he said. “Some years ago I interviewed a man who had had three tours of very heavy fighting in Vietnam. I asked him, ‘What is the worst thing that has ever happened to you?’ He replied, ‘My wife left me.’ So for this man, his wife leaving him was even more traumatic than serving in the war.”
Thus, Friedman predicts that as psychiatrists develop future editions of DSM, they are going to witness the emergence and recognition of a whole spectrum of additional stress disorders. Some will be more intense than others, they may well differ from each other psychobiologically, and they may also require different kinds of psychotherapies or drug therapies, Friedman anticipates.
“Let me remind you,” he said, “that if we look back to the DSM-I, we had only two affective disorders. We had manic-depressive illness, and we had psychotic depression. If you look at the DSM-IV, it is up to eight or nine. So my prediction is that the same thing is going to happen in the field of stress.”

Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Go to Psychiatric News
Psychiatric News
Volume 36 • Number 23 • December 7, 2001
Pages: 21

History

Published online: 7 December 2001
Published in print: December 7, 2001

Authors

Metrics & Citations

Metrics

Citations

Export Citations

If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.

For more information or tips please see 'Downloading to a citation manager' in the Help menu.

Format
Citation style
Style
Copy to clipboard
Tips for downloading citations

There are no citations for this item

View Options

View options

Get Access

Login options

Already a subscriber? Access your subscription through your login credentials or your institution for full access to this article.

Personal login Institutional Login Open Athens login

Not a subscriber?

Subscribe Now / Learn More

PsychiatryOnline subscription options offer access to the DSM-5-TR® library, books, journals, CME, and patient resources. This all-in-one virtual library provides psychiatrists and mental health professionals with key resources for diagnosis, treatment, research, and professional development.

Need more help? PsychiatryOnline Customer Service may be reached by emailing [email protected] or by calling 800-368-5777 (in the U.S.) or 703-907-7322 (outside the U.S.).

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

Share

Share

Share article link

Share

×

As described within the American Psychiatric Association (APA)'s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, this website utilizes cookies, including for the purpose of offering an optimal online experience and services tailored to your preferences. Please read the entire Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. By closing this message, browsing this website, continuing the navigation, or otherwise continuing to use the APA's websites, you confirm that you understand and accept the terms of the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, including the utilization of cookies.