It may have made you feel incapable of controlling what happens in your life, so now you automatically lose your cool when something major happens. There's no way to predict who might develop an adjustment disorder, but experts believe your risk may be higher if you experienced a ton of stress in early childhood (for example, overprotective or abusive parenting). Certain factors may put you at a higher risk of developing an adjustment disorder.

These types include AD with depressed mood (symptoms may include intense sadness, hopelessness, and lack of motivation) with anxiety (excessive worrying, feeling perpetually overwhelmed, and brain fog) with anxiety and depressed mood with disturbance of conduct (fighting, reckless driving, and substance abuse) disturbance of conduct and anxiety/depressed mood and unspecified (an inability to cope, but symptoms don't quite fit the other types). There are six different types of adjustment disorders.Įach type of adjustment disorder features certain signs and symptoms, says Marsden. If you start to feel better within six months of the stressful event ending (and your symptoms aren't because of another diagnosis), an adjustment disorder may be the culprit. Symptoms usually appear within three months of the onset of a specific stressor that can be identified, she explains, and this stress puts a serious damper on how you function in your everyday life. Marsden, Ph.D., assistant professor of human services and psychology at Beacon College. But there are a few key criteria to keep in mind, says A.J. Adjustment disorder is easily confused with other anxiety disorders.īecause adjustment disorder symptoms tend to mimic those of other conditions, it can be tricky to diagnose. In some cases, people who deal with one or more stressful situations on the regular-such as being broke af or living in an unsafe neighborhood-can reach a breaking point and develop an adjustment disorder, according to the Mayo Clinic. Ongoing stressors can have the same effect as specific life events. Meanwhile, a single change (think: a breakup) can domino into many changes (moving out, budgeting differently, losing social ties), says Nance, which can make dealing with the initial change even more difficult. For example, you might expect to feel joy and excitement following a job promotion, but are hit with waves of anxiety and relentless sobbing instead.

Typically, adjustment disorders are triggered by a jarring experience-losing a job, getting dumped, surviving an accident, being moved from your home-but positive experiences can also leave a mark. Any major life transition can trigger symptoms of an adjustment disorder.

However, unlike other depressive disorders, the symptoms are specifically and exclusively triggered by an outside stressor, and tend to resolve once the person has adjusted to the situation. Also called 'situational depression,' symptoms are similar to that of other depressive disorders, such as feelings of sadness, waves of anger, and crying spells. Your reaction becomes disproportionate to the event you're reacting to. 'Adjustment disorder occurs when an individual's stressors exceed their resources for coping,' says Nicki Nance, Ph.D., assistant professor of human services and psychology at Beacon College in Florida. Here, the 411 on adjustment disorders and what to do if you think you might have one: Change is hard, but for someone with an adjustment disorder, it can be torture.

With equal parts insight and treatment, getting back to your regularly scheduled programming is totally doable. It's not something you have to tough out on your own, though.

As well as simply being too many.