Chapter 1
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What is a Crisis?
Formula for Understanding
the Process of Crisis Formation
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1. Precipitating Event Occurs
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2. Perception of Event Leads to Subjective Distress
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3. Subjective Distress Leads to Impairment in
Functioning
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4. Coping Skills Fail to Improve Functioning
Formula to Increase Functioning
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1. Alter / Change Perception of the
Precipitating Event and Offer Coping
Strategies
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2. Subjective Distress will be lowered
3. Functioning Level returns to Previous
level or higher.
Crisis as Danger and Opportunity
Opportunity:
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1. With help / Counseling / Intervention, the
individual survives the crisis with increased
coping skills, emotional growth, and resources
which prepare him for future stressors.
Danger:
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2. Without Help, the individual may return to a
lowered level of functioning by use of the ego
defense mechanisms or remain nonfunctional via
suicide, homicide, or psychosis.
The Crisis Prone Person
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Experiences a stressor perceived as threatening
which leads to subjective distress and impairment in
functioning. Coping methods fail.
State of disequilibrium ensues for 4-6 weeks.
No intervention / help is sought.
Individual uses ego strength to deny, repress,
dissociate from the meaning of the precipitating
event and subjective distress and functions at a
lowered level.
Individual unprepared emotionally to cope with
future stressors and easily enters into crisis states
when faced with potential precipitating events.
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3.
4.
5.
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OTHER DETERMINING
FACTORS
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• Material Resources: money, shelter,
transportation, food, clothing
• Personal Resources: ego strength,
personality traits, physical well-being,
intelligence and education
• Social Resources: friends, family, school
mates, co-workers, church, clubs
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TYPES OF CRISES
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• Developmental: normal, expected,
transitional phases as people move from one
stage of life to another. People often unable
to cope with evolving needs of family
members
• Situational: uncommon, extraordinary
events. No way of forecasting or
controlling them, emergency quality
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Curvilinear Model of Anxiety
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Too much anxiety is overwhelming and paralyzing
Too little anxiety leaves very little motivation to
change or accept interventions.
Moderate anxiety is optimal in motivating people
to change and allowing them to utilize personal
resources.
Sometimes an individual needs medication to
reduce anxiety to the point where a person can
respond to intervention.
Other times anxiety is encouraged to increase
motivation.
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Caplan’s 7 Characteristics of
Effective Coping Behavior
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Actively
reality
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6.
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issues and searching for
information.
Freely expressing both positive and negative feeling and
tolerating frustration.
Actively invoking help from others.
Breaking problems down into manageable bits and
working through them one at a time.
Being aware of fatigue and pacing coping efforts while
maintaining control in as many areas of functioning as
possible.
Mastering feelings where possible, being flexible and
willing to change.
Trusting in oneself and others and having a basic
optimism about the outcome.
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• Multicultural perspectives in crisis intervention
• Understand the person's world view we need to
address culturally biases assumptions
Culturally biased assumes:
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• 1. Assumption that all people share a common
measure of "normal” behavior
• 2. Assumption that crisis is primarily individual
rather than part of a larger group such as
family, friends, society etc.
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• 3. Assumption that the definition of
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problems can be limited by academic
boundaries
• 4. Assumption that other will understand
abstractions the same
• 5. The assumption that independence is
valuable and dependencies are
undesirable-we should not depend on
others or allow them to depend upon us.
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• 6. The assumption that people would
counseling
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family, friends, peers, etc.
• 7. Assumption of black and white/ good
or bad is transferable
• 8. Assumption that human service worker
needs to change individual to fit the
system the system is always correct.
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• 9. Assumption that human service
worker, crisis workers, etc know all their
assumptions. [we don't have to use toilet
paper]
• 10. Assumption that the client's history
has nothing or limited relevance.
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GUIDELINES FOR INCREASING THE CRISIS
INTERVENER’S MULTICULTURAL
AWARENESS
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Attempt to become aware of your own
cultural biases.
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If possible,
learn
the language of those into
whose crisis you may need to intervene.
Find qualified translator if necessary.
• Ask for clarification if you are not sure what
the victim said.
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Do not assume that you understand any
nonverbal communication unless you’re
familiar with the victim's culture.
Do not impose your personal beliefs.
If the victim’s nonverbal communication
is insulting in your culture do not take if
personally.
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Develop an awareness of anything in your own
communication
that might be insulting in
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certain cultures.
• Make every effort to increase your awareness of
your own preconceptions and stereotypes of the
cultures you may encounter.
• With your increased awareness, reinterpret the
behavior of people of another culture from their
cultural perspective.
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Be willing to test, adapt, and change your
perceptions to fit your new experience.
Recognize that you cannot change a person’s
cultural perspective.
Do not judge people from another culture by
your own cultural values until you have
come to know the people and their cultural
values.
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Recognize that lack of familiarity with a
culture
may increase the stress
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within the intervention.
• Clarify your role, knowledge, and experience
with the parties so you maintain an integrity
demanded by your position as intervener.
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GUIDELINES FOR INCREASING THE CRISIS INTERVENER.doc Elements of Crisis
Intervention, Greenstone, Levition
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