Traumatic Stress is a commonly used term describing reactive anxiety (and depression). It is not a medical term and is not included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). What is popularly referred to as Traumatic Stress is covered in DSM-IV by Adjustment Disorders. This includes subtypes of anxiety, depression and disturbance of conduct and combinations of these symptoms. It results from events that are less threatening and distressing than the events that lead to posttraumatic stress disorder.
The condition presents in a manner similar to posttraumatic stress disorder, but lacking the same intensity.
Famous quotes containing the words traumatic and/or stress:
“There’s a quality of legend about freaks. Like a person in a fairy tale who stops you and demands that you answer a riddle. Most people go through life dreading they’ll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They’ve already passed their test in life. They’re aristocrats.”
—Diane Arbus (1923–1971)
“Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one’s mind.”
—W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1966)