In the course of our day-to-day moments, there are several incidents that individuals face that are considered challenging. It is majorly about the perception of stressful situations that can alter the intensity of the unpleasantness experienced. Psychological disequilibrium which consists of experiencing anxiety, hopelessness, disorganization, and agitation (Smead,1988) requires that individuals access immediate healthcare to restore a balance.

“Crisis intervention is a short time counselling help for individuals who are unable to cope with an event and perceives it as threatening, causing them a significant amount of distress.”

It is required when the person is faced with a crisis that interferes with his or her level of functioning. Crisis intervention is provided for any crisis involving family, trauma, suicidality, violence, personal illness etc. It is an opportunity to develop better skills, and management techniques and therefore might be viewed as an opportunity for change.

There are certain characteristics that make an individual more crisis-prone:

• Lack of purpose or goal in life — An individual might channelize their intense emotional disbalance through finding meaning in the work they are engaged in. The purpose of one’s life can make it easier to focus on a particular path instead of remaining in an ambiguous state of mind.
• Alienation from meaningful interpersonal relationships — A person’s relationship with family, friends or co-workers can provide a huge emotional and social support for them. Communicating basic feelings with others is present in the innate nature of human beings. Lacking meaningful relations can isolate the person making them crisis prone.
• History of substance abuse and addiction — The dependence and denial that comes with any addiction issue might increase the chances of the individual to be habituated in adopting weak coping skill strategies. This pattern provides temporary solutions making them crisis prone.
• Neglect towards self-care and personal safety — The individual who finds it difficult learning from past mistakes can repeat the actions that puts their psychological well-being in trouble. A person choosing personal responsibility is less crisis prone in comparison.
• History of psychological disorder or emotional imbalance — Previous issues with emotional regulation or any mental health crisis makes the individual more vulnerable to fall victim to other crises as well.
• Impulsive behaviour resulting from unresolved inner conflict — Personality traits that involve impulsiveness can trigger in other crisis situations resulting in choosing poor decisions. The person with more unresolved conflicts might find it difficult to logically act in a challenging scenario.

The three crucial steps of crisis intervention are as follows:

1. Identification — This is the first step where mental health professionals attempt to recognize the area of crisis that is causing emotional distress. It aims to understand the importance of that event in the client’s life. The current functioning of the client is assessed and the event is recognized as developmental or situational. Developmental crisis involves the series of changes that are predictable that occur as part of a person’s growth. Situational crises on the other hand are unpredictable in nature and occur as a sudden change such as natural disaster or death of a loved one.
2. Assessment — The second step involves gathering of objective information regarding the impact on the client. This is carried out through the process of interview where establishing an environment of acceptance and support is essential. The questions asked to the client is to understand the depth of the issue faced which includes assessing their ability to communicate, regulation of affect, sequence and frequency of the events. A vital part of this step involves evaluating their current safety status and whether or not they are a risk to their own or someone else’s life.
3. Intervention — In the third step the work of the therapist is to enhance the problem- solving skills of the person in crisis. This stage also includes the mental health professional to acknowledge the client’s situation and take into consideration his or her cultural factors which plays a role in maintaining the psychological difficulty. Another element in this stage is to carefully discuss the action plans with the client that is more suited in their given circumstance. The time limited goal is then decided where the client in crisis is empowered through brief education, modelling, suggestions for follow up support resources and role-playing strategies.

The six techniques commonly used in crisis intervention are as follows:

1. Catharsis — This is one of the most important methods where a client experiences a release of emotionally charged expressions while talking about the crisis. This aims to bring unconscious impulses to the surface.
2. Clarification — The person is supported to express with more clarity regarding the nature of the events and the feelings associated with it.
3. Reinforcement of behaviour — The client in crisis is motivated by providing positive responses to adaptive behaviour.
4. Support of defenses — The crisis worker encourages the client to make use of adaptive defenses by highlighting their advantages.
5. Raising self-esteem — This technique makes the client equipped enough to regulate the intense emotions by believing they can do so.
6. Exploration of solution — This technique helps in navigating alternate solutions for the crisis. This aims to provide strong as well as long-term relief.

Management of any crisis requires psychological first aid for individuals to be able to deal with their current situations of crisis more effectively. It helps in resolving their psychological disequilibrium as well as reduce their personal discomfort by sharpening the skills used by them. The main objective of crisis intervention is providing immediate support with a goal to guide the individuals in crisis into a direction towards further personal growth.

– Urveez Kakalia & Debanjana Banerjee.