Symptoms
Symptoms of adjustment disorder are often severe enough to affect work or social life. Symptoms include:
- Acting defiant or showing impulsive behavior
- Acting nervous or tense
- Crying, feeling sad or hopeless, and possibly withdrawing from other people
- Skipped heartbeats and other physical complaints
- Trembling or twitching
To have adjustment disorder, you must have the following:
- The symptoms clearly come after a stressor, most often within 3 months
- The symptoms are more severe than would be expected
- There do not appear to be other disorders involved
- The symptoms are not part of normal grieving for the death of a loved one
Sometimes, symptoms can be severe and the person may have thoughts of suicide or make a suicide attempt.