Adjustment Disorder

An adjustment disorder occurs when an individual is unable to adjust to or cope with a particular stressor, like a major life event. Since people with this disorder normally have symptoms that depressed people do, such as general loss of interest, feelings of hopelessness and crying, this disorder is also sometimes known as situational depression. Unlike major depression however, the disorder is caused by an outside stressor and generally resolves once the individual is able to adapt to the situation. The condition is different from anxiety disorder, which lacks the presence of a stressor, or post-traumatic stress disorder and acute stress disorder, which usually are associated with a more intense stressor.

Its common characteristics include mild depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and traumatic stress symptoms or a combination of the three. There are nine different types of adjustment disorders listed in the DSM-III-R. In DSM-IV, adjustment disorder was reduced to six types, classified by their clinical features, which characterize the predominant symptoms. Adjustment disorder may also be acute or chronic, depending on whether it lasts more or less than six months. According to the DSM-IV-TR, if the adjustment disorder lasts less than 6 months, then it may be considered acute. If it lasts more than 6 months, it may be considered chronic. However, the symptoms cannot last longer than six months after the stressor(s), or its consequences, have terminated. Diagnosis of adjustment disorder is quite common; there is an estimated incidence of 5–21% among psychiatric consultation services for adults. Adult women are diagnosed twice as often as are adult men, but among children and adolescents, girls and boys are equally likely to receive this diagnosis. Adjustment disorder was introduced into the psychiatric classification systems almost 30 years ago, but the concept was recognized for many years before that. When considering biopsychosocial disorders, an athlete’s overtrained state can be due to an adjustment disorder.