CRISIS INTERVENTION

Crisis Intervention is emergency psychological care aimed at assisting individuals in a crisis situation to restore equilibrium to their biopsychosocial functioning and to minimise the potential for psychological trauma. Crisis can be defined as one’s perception or experiencing of an event or situation as an intolerable difficulty that exceeds the person’s current resources and coping mechanisms. The priority of crisis intervention/counseling is to increase stabilization. Crisis interventions occur at the spur of the moment and in a variety of settings, as trauma can arise instantaneously. Crisis counselors must keep in mind that crises are temporary, no longer than a month, although the effects may become long-lasting Crisis Intervention is the emergency and temporary care given an individual who, because of unusual stress in his or her live that renders them unable to function as they normally would, in order to interrupt the downward spiral of maladaptive behavior and return the individual to their usual level of pre-crisis functioning> (Greenstone and Leviton, 1993, 2002, 2011

).

Types of crisis

Crises can occur on a personal or societal level. Personal Trauma is defined as an individual’s experience of a situation or event in which he/she perceives to have exhausted his/her coping skill, self-esteem, social support, and power. These can be situations where a person is making suicidal threats, experiencing threat, witnessing homicide or suicide, or experiencing personal loss. While a person is experiencing a crisis on the individual level it is important for counselors to primarily assess safety. Counselors are encouraged to ask questions pertaining to social supports and networks, as well as give referrals for long term care.

Societal or mass trauma can occur in a number of settings and typically affect a large group or society. These are instances such as school shootings, terrorist attacks, and natural disaster. A counselor’s primary concern when call to these types of crises is to assess people’s awareness of resources. Individuals experiencing trauma in large scales need to be aware of shelters that offer food and water; places that met their basic necessities for survival.

Typical responses to crisis

Counselors are encouraged to be aware of the typical responses of those who have experienced a crisis or currently struggling with the trauma. On the cognitive level they may blame themselves or others for the trauma. Oftentimes the person appears disoriented, becomes hypersensitive or confused, has poor concentration, uncertainty, and poor troubleshooting. Physical responses to trauma include: increased heart rate, tremors, dizziness, weakness, chills, headaches, vomiting, shock, fainting, sweating, and fatigue. Some emotional responses the person may experiences consist of apathy, depression, irritability, anxiety, panic, helplessness, hopelessness, anger, fear, guilt, and denial. When assessing behavior some typical responses to crisis are difficulty eating and/or sleeping, conflicts with others, withdrawal from social situations, and lack of interest in social activities.

Universal principles of crisis intervention

While dealing with crisis, both personal and societal, there are five basic principles outlined for intervention. Victims are initially at high risk for maladaptive coping or immobilization. Intervening as quickly as possible is imperative. Resource mobilization should be immediately enacted in order to provide victims with the tools they need to return to some sort of order and normalcy, in addition to enable eventual independent functioning. The next step is to facilitate understanding of the event by processing the situation or trauma. This is done in order to help the victim gain a better understanding of what has occurred and allowing him or her to express feeling about the experience. Additionally, the counselor should assist the victim(s) in problem solving within the context of their situation and feelings. This is necessary for developing self-efficacy and self-reliance. Helping the victim get back to being able to function independently by actively facilitating problem solving, assisting in developing appropriate strategies for addressing those concerns, and in helping putting those strategies into action. This is done in hopes of assisting the victim to become self-reliant.