Which statement about Adjustment Disorder is true?

• A. Emotional or behavioral symptoms must occur within 2 years of identifiable stressor.
• B. The symptoms must persist for more than 6 months after the stressor is removed.
• C. Development of emotional or behavioral symptoms occurring within 3 months of an identifiable stressor.
• D. Symptoms are never impairing.

Answer: (C)

Adjustment disorder is a maladaptive emotional or behavioral reaction to an identifiable psychosocial stressor that begins within three months of the stressor. The key idea is that the response is clearly tied to the identifiable stressor and appears soon after it starts. Importantly, the distress or impairment should be clinically significant, affecting functioning, and once the stressor or its consequences have ended, any symptoms should not persist for more than about six additional months. That’s why the statement that development of symptoms occurs within three months of the identifiable stressor best fits the diagnostic pattern.

The other options don’t fit because: onset within two years is too long—timing must be within three months; persistence for more than six months after the stressor is removed is not how it’s defined—symptoms should not continue beyond six months after the stressor ends; and saying symptoms are never impairing contradicts the core feature of Adjustment Disorder, which requires distress or impairment in functioning.