Background: Anxiety disorders and, in particular, acute stress disorder are one of the principal reasons for medical assistance, being the women the ones who frequently consult.
Aims: To describe and analyze, from a perspective of gender, the factors that unleash the consultation of an episode of acute stress disorder in the emergency.
Materials and method: An exploratory descriptive study was performed. A semi-directed interview and a socio-demographic questionnaire were assessed and scales to evaluate anxiety and depression were administered to females that consulted for an acute stress disorder.
Results: Sixty nine percent of the patients described the physical discomfort as trigger factor, presenting in the 85% of the cases a degree of major anxiety; associating the family conflicts as the principal cause of distress, followed by violence against women. The situation of distress, in 75% of the cases, did not correspond with an isolated episode.
Conclusion: The physical symptomatology was the principal cause for consultation of an episode of acute stress disorder in the emergency, being the family conflicts and the violence against women the principal reasons of distress. Therefore, interdisciplinary approach for the assistance of mental disorders in emergency should be taken in consideration.