PTSD vs ASD: Difference and Comparison

PTSD and ASD are both mental conditions characterized by intense fear, terror, and anxiety. PTSD and ASD are extremely similar conditions affecting a person’s ability to interact with others.

However, they are different from each other in many other aspects.

Key Takeaways

1. PTSD develops after a traumatic event and can last for months or years, whereas ASD occurs immediately after the event and lasts for days to a month.
2. ASD is a short-term response to trauma, whereas PTSD has long-term psychological effects and requires treatment.
3. PTSD and ASD share similar symptoms, like flashbacks, avoidance, and anxiety, but ASD has a shorter duration.

PTSD vs ASD

PTSD is a mental disorder and condition that stands for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and it is when a person experiences trauma gotten from past events. ASD, or Acute Stress Disorder, is a mental condition that can be created within a short period of exposure to a great traumatic event.

PTSD is a mental disorder that may develop following a traumatic event. The individual will experience intense terror and helplessness and go to great lengths to avoid the circumstances that brought on the original trauma.

PTSD is characterized by several types of memories, such as flashbacks or nightmares.

ASD is a developmental disorder characterized by difficulties in communication as well as social interactions. A person with ASD may have difficulty interpreting the social cues of others.

The development of ASD has five phases: intrusion, avoidance, negative alterations, marked physiological reactivity, and recovery.

Comparison Table

Parameters of Comparison	PTSD	ASD
Definition	PTSD is a condition where the patient has a traumatic experience, such as being physically attacked.	ASD develops reactions that will affect the ability of the individual to be social due to extreme traumatic experiences.
Acronym	Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.	Acute Stress Disorder
Period	PTSD development takes time.	ASD develops within hours or days of exposure to an extremely traumatic event.
Diagnosis	One test that is used to detect PTSD is called the CAPS (Cluster A and Cluster B) Assessment.	It is diagnosed based on symptoms.
Recovery	Recovery of an individual’s functioning takes time or cannot be cured rapidly.	Recovery of an individual’s functioning returns to normal over time.

What is PTSD?

PTSD is characterized by several types of memories, such as flashbacks or nightmares. These memories will cause intense terror and anxiety but rarely cause physical attacks.

PTSD is a serious disorder that can occur after any trauma, including the following:

• natural disaster
• car crash or vehicular accident
• being held captive or taken hostage by someone else
• a violent attack, mugging, or robbery
• seeing others injured or killed or witnessing something that would be extremely upsetting to most people

A person suffering from PTSD may have nightmares or flashbacks of memories of a traumatic event that come back as a picture or a story.

Moreover, they may also have a very strong emotional reaction when hearing a noise, seeing an image, smelling something, or feeling something that reminds them of the trauma.

These reactions can be so strong that they cause serious problems with everyday life.

For a person suffering from PTSD, it is important to work closely with a doctor and let the doctor know the problems so that the doctor can diagnose PTSD by taking a brief medical history and doing some tests.

One test that is used to detect PTSD is called the CAPS (Cluster A and Cluster B) Assessment.

This test includes questions on how long ago the trauma happened and how severe it was.

 What is ASD?

Acute Stress Disorder (ASD) is a trauma and stressor-related disorder that can develop within hours or days of exposure to an extremely traumatic event.

The development of ASD has five phases: intrusion, avoidance, negative alterations, marked physiological reactivity, and recovery.

• Intrusion is re-experiencing the events.
• Avoidance is the effort that was made to avoid thoughts, feelings, and conversations associated with the traumatic event. Moreover, individuals in the agony of ASD will also try to avoid activities, places, or people that arouse recollections of the event.
• Negative alterations in cognition and mood are associated with the trauma.
• Marked physiological reactivity to individuals, places, and things associated with the trauma. This may be seen in the activation of the sympathetic nervous system, for example, an increased heart rate and activation of the HPA axis, such as cortisol increase or both.
• Recovery of an individual’s functioning returns to normal over time.

ASD may have nightmares about a traumatic event that they experienced before the condition developed. Moreover, the individual may appear detached from their environment or detached from other people in a social situation.

Main Differences Between PTSD and ASD

1. PTSD is a condition where the patient has a traumatic experience, such as being physically attacked, whereas ASD develops reactions that will affect the ability of the individual to be social due to extreme traumatic experiences.
2. The acronym of PTSD is well-known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, whereas the acronym of ASD is well-known as Acute Stress Disorder.
3. PTSD development takes time, whereas ASD develops within hours or days of exposure to an extremely traumatic event.
4. One test that is used to detect PTSD is called the CAPS (Cluster A and Cluster B) Assessment, whereas ASD is on the basis of symptoms.
5. Recovery of an individual’s functioning takes time or cannot be cured rapidly for PSTD, whereas ASD recovery of an individual’s functioning returns to normal over time.

References

1. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00207144.2013.729377
2. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890856709611047
3. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0886260509354587

Last Updated : 13 July, 2023