What is adjustment disorder? Causes, symptoms and treatment

Adjustment disorder is a disease associated with stress factors, the symptoms of which are easily confused with depression. According to experts, the sooner the detection and intervention, the higher the patient’s chances of recovering.

Adjustment disorder

Adjustment disorder is a disease that is associated with stressors

What is adjustment disorder?

Stress is one of the normal reactions that anyone can experience. Also because in life there are countless difficult and unfavorable things that make us feel stressed and tired. To some extent, stress is considered a motivating factor, a motivation to help people complete better, put in more effort to be able to develop more. However, for people with adjustment disorders, they will have more intense and intense reactions to stress, levels can be many times higher than those of normal healthy people. often.

People with adjustment disorder will face many difficulties and challenges when dealing with stressful factors, events, and pressures. They will not be able to handle it well if they experience situations such as the sudden death of a loved one, a serious illness, pressure from work, cracks in long-term relationships, etc.

It can be said that any changes that occur in life can make them feel stressed, tired, stuck, and depressed. Usually, for people in good health, the time it takes for them to adapt and adjust to changes under stress can range from a few days to a few months. However, for people with adjustment disorder, the emotional and behavioral responses will be persistent and appear in an irregular, continuous manner. Symptoms of the disease can be easily confused with depressive disorder.

Adjustment disorder affects the patient’s perception of himself and the world around him. Symptoms will usually begin about 3 months after the stressful event occurs, and they will last up to 6 months. However, depending on the condition of the disease, it can last longer or develop into a chronic disease with serious effects on life.

Based on current statistics, between 2 and 8% of the world’s population is suffering from this disease. Experts say that adjustment disorder symptoms can start in anyone, regardless of age. However, the prevalence of the disease in women is twice as high as in men.

Some Common Types of Adjustment Disorder

The symptoms of adjustment disorder will vary from person to person. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), the disease is divided into six distinct categories, each with distinctive features. As follows:

Adjustment disorder

Depending on the type of disorder, the main thing is that the patient will have unique symptoms

  • Anxiety type: Patients with this type will often feel anxious, nervous, insecure, lose concentration and impaired memory. Sometimes they even feel restless, overwhelmed by what others consider normal. If the patient is a child, there will be a fear of separation, separation from parents and close family members.
  • Depression: The main symptoms of this type of illness are feelings of sadness, hopelessness, lack of life, and faith. Patients no longer feel joy, happiness, no longer interested in events and activities happening around.
  • Behavioral disorder: Symptoms of the disease will be mainly related to behavior, such as fighting, reckless driving, vandalism, opposition, truancy, etc.
  • Depression mixed with anxiety: The patient will have both symptoms of depression and anxiety at the same time.
  • Mood and behavioral disorder: This is a combination of feelings of anxiety, depression, and unusual behaviors.
  • Unspecified pattern: Patient’s symptoms are not consistent with any of the above-mentioned types of adjustment disorder. It can be issues around family, work, study, relationships, etc.

What causes adjustment disorder?

According to experts, adjustment disorders often arise from characteristic changes that occur in each person’s daily life. In addition, they added, genetics and past experiences are also related to this disease.

Adjustment disorder

Any change or traumatic problem in your life can lead to adjustment disorder

Certain events that may increase your risk for an adjustment disorder include:

  • The sudden death of loved ones.
  • Having financial problems, debt, unemployment.
  • Divorce, cracks in long-term relationships.
  • Having an unwanted child, breaking up with a lover
  • Having trouble at school, at work
  • Some serious health problems
  • Having experienced dangerous situations such as fire, natural disaster, landslide, sexual abuse, school violence, etc.

Besides, life experiences can also affect how you deal with and react to stress and pressure. The risk of adjustment disorder can come from:

  • Had stressful experiences in childhood?
  • Experiencing other health problems
  • Several difficult situations in life appear at the same time.

Symptoms of patients with adjustment disorder

Depending on the different types of adjustment disorder, the symptoms of the patient are also unique and vary from case to case. A person’s stress is more severe than usual, and it can cause many of the hallmarks of a patient’s life.

People with adjustment disorder are often depressed, sad, and have depression-like symptoms

People with adjustment disorder are often depressed, sad, and have depression-like symptoms

Adjustment disorder, if not well controlled, will greatly affect a person’s mood and thoughts about themselves and those around them. In addition, it has the ability to influence a person’s behavior. Some common symptoms are:

  • Always feel bored, tired, desperate, no longer fully enjoy the joy and happiness as before.
  • Frequent crying, sensitive for no reason.
  • Sleep disturbances, mainly insomnia, poor sleep, or nightmares.
  • Change in eating habits, no longer feeling appetite, anorexia, poor eating.
  • Faced with many difficulties in the process of communicating and connecting with people around.
  • Do not want to continue with school or daily work, tend to avoid paying monthly expenses
  • It is difficult to achieve success at work, unable to complete everything according to one’s will.
  • Always refuse help and support from people around.
  • Having negative thoughts, suicidal thoughts.

Adjustment disorder symptoms can be relieved and relieved when stressors are well addressed and remedied. Sometimes, however, the underlying causes can persist and follow the patient or other events emerge that cause the patient to grapple with negative emotions again and to a greater extent. more important.

If you find it difficult and unable to handle your stressors well, the best way to find out is to see a doctor for quick support. If the symptoms of adjustment disorder are not detected and corrected early, it will cause a lot of obstacles to the patient’s life and health.

What complications does adjustment disorder cause?

According to experts, adjustment disorders cause many serious impacts on patients’ daily activities. Such as:

  • People with adjustment disorder must constantly face and endure emotions of stress, anxiety, insecurity, and depression. This makes them unable to focus on anything, their quality of life gradually declines, their health deteriorates rapidly.
  • Patients often fall into a state of insomnia leading to body weakness, prolonged fatigue and no vitality and energy to complete daily tasks. Even if this condition persists, it will increase the risk of developing more dangerous diseases, such as depression and anxiety disorders.
  • Constantly struggling with negative emotions will make the patient more likely to form negative thoughts, more likely to develop self-harm or even suicidal behaviors.
  • Patients tend to want to find addictive substances, stimulants such as alcohol, tobacco, drugs to relieve stress and depression in their hearts. However, the abuse of these substances only has a temporary effect, then it will make the disease worse, even make the patient perform uncontrollable behaviors.

Because of the serious effects and complications that adjustment disorder can cause, as soon as the symptoms are noticed, patients need to be more proactive in their examination and treatment at reputable specialist facilities. in order to avoid potentially dangerous consequences.

Diagnosis of adjustment disorder

Usually, specialists will mainly rely on the cause of stress to diagnose the condition. At the same time, the patient’s characteristic manifestations and its effects on life and daily activities are also essential factors in determining whether a person has an adjustment disorder or not.

The specialist doctor will examine the patient’s general health and conduct an exploration of the symptoms, medical history of the patient and family members. In addition, experts also rely on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manuel of Mental Disorders – DSM-5  diagnostic criteria to be able to make a more accurate assessment of each person’s disease status.

Adjustment disorder

The diagnosis of adjustment disorder is mainly based on the symptoms the patient is experiencing

The specific diagnostic criteria for a DSM-5-adjusted disorder are as follows:

  • The patient developed symptoms of emotional and behavioral disturbances related to the stressors that occurred about 3 months after the event.
  • Stress status and expression levels are quite complex and last longer than previous stressful events.
  • Symptoms are not related to other health problems.

So how long will adjustment disorder symptoms last?

According to experts, depending on the condition and form of the disease, the length of time for each patient will not be the same. Usually divided into 2 types as:

  • Temporary: Symptoms usually appear and last for about 6 months or in some cases shorter. When the problems causing stress are overcome and well resolved, the symptoms of the disease will gradually decrease and disappear.
  • Prolonged: Adjustment disorder symptoms will persist for at least 6 months and cause many negative impacts on the health and life of the patient.

Guidelines for the treatment of adjustment disorder

Similar to other mental illnesses, adjustment disorder will also be prioritized for treatment with psychotherapy and the use of supportive drugs. At the same time, for better health recovery and prevention of the risk of recurrence, the doctor will also guide the patient with some appropriate lifestyle changes.

1. Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is talk therapy and face-to-face communication between a psychologist and a patient. With their specialized techniques, experts will gradually exploit and help patients better understand their health conditions as well as find the root causes of stress. Because of that, patients can easily face stressful situations and find the most effective remedies.

Thanks to psychotherapy, people with adjustment disorder can stabilize and control their emotions, behaviors, and thoughts. At the same time, after controlling and reducing the symptoms of the disease, they will also easily integrate and adapt well to daily life. Patients will also be guided and improved in necessary skills such as emotional control skills, facing difficulties, overcoming stress to better balance life.

2. Use of drug treatment

In some cases, the specialist will consider using some more anti-anxiety drugs, antidepressants to better overcome the symptoms of the disease. Although medication cannot treat the root cause of the disease, it has a good ability to control and limit the dangerous complications that adjustment disorder can cause.

However, the use of the drug requires specific guidance and monitoring by a specialist. Because prescription drugs have the potential to cause some unwanted side effects. Therefore, patients need to be really careful and strictly follow the doctor’s instructions for using drugs.

3. Change to a healthier and more active lifestyle

In addition to the application and adherence to the above-mentioned specialized treatment measures, adjustment disorder patients also need to pay attention to their daily living, resting, and eating regimen. Also because the condition is related to reactions to everyday events, you need to know how to protect your health and build yourself a healthy lifestyle.

Here are some helpful tips for you:

  • Pay attention to your daily diet, build a healthy nutritional menu, add lots of green vegetables and nutritious foods. Improve sleep quality, make sure you get enough sleep from 7 to 8 hours a day, sleep needs to be focused in the evening.
  • Regular exercise and sports not only have a good effect on improving physical health, increase resistance, but also support stress reduction, effective and safe relaxation.
  • Build and maintain healthy relationships.
  • Learn to stay calm, think positively, be optimistic and accept to face all challenges and difficulties in life.
  • Actively participate in fun and recreational activities based on interests, seeking personal pleasures.
  • Practice the habit of organizing and planning specifically for problems in life.
  • Be open and proactive in seeking help when needed. Learn to share and express emotions more.

To treat and overcome adjustment disorder well, you need to find a psychiatrist or a psychologist with a lot of experience. Be proactive in visiting the doctor and ask for the support of people around you to easily overcome this difficult period.

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