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. These 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.

The 36-year-old man in this case study exhibits many symptoms of Acute Stress Disorder. The man reported that these symptoms lasted for several weeks, and acute stress disorder is only known to last for 4 weeks. Also, another major symptom of acute stress disorder is reoccurent images of the traumatic event. The man exhibits this symptom with the reoccuring images of his son screaming after the car was hit. Dissociative trauma, another symptom of acute stress disorder, is the inability to remember an important aspect of the trauma. The man can not remember whether the light was green or red when he entered the intersection, showing that he has yet another symptom of acute stress disorder. The man also stated that he goes out of his way just to avoid the intersection where the accident occured. Marked avoidance of stimuli that would arouse rememberance of the traumatic event is another major symptom of acute stress disorder. The many symptoms shown by the 36-year-old man are all symptoms of Acute Stress Disorder.