There are events in everyone’s life when we may experience difficult emotions. We’re not able to clearly state what event will cause a mood decrease or anxiety. It depends on our lifestyle, the things we like to do, our past experiences, our personality and the ability to experience emotions.

All of this impacts how we’ll react to overwhelming life events. When we’re not able to cope with the feelings that surface when we’re facing these events, crisis intervention may be the solution. This is a form of psychological care that makes it easier to get through a crisis and gain a new perspective on life.

Crisis – an unavoidable part of life

An emotional crisis is a natural element of every person’s life and is often understood as a constant element of the human condition. A crisis is a very broad term and may manifest itself differently in everyone. Various studies focus on different areas of crisis research, which is why there is no clear definition of what a crisis is.

Most current studies on crisis psychology define an emotional crisis as a temporary, periodic mental health imbalance. What does that really mean?

In other words, a crisis is a situation where we’re experiencing a high level of emotional tension, often accompanied by anxiety.

Textbooks define a crisis as a state of mental, emotional and physiological imbalance, which is temporary and is significant for the given individual. Importantly, it’s characterised by emotions and tension. This means that people who are going through a crisis are simultaneously upset, unsure, anxious, confused and full of guilt.

Crises have different names, but the same effects

Life is a connection of situations we can control with those we can’t control. It’s mainly the second category that can cause a crisis.

There are certain sudden changes in life that decrease our sense of security and increase anxiety levels. Emotions and experiences that accompany an emotional crisis cause pain, suffering and trigger impulsive actions, which aim to lessen the feeling of distress.

Although there may be many reasons for experiencing a crisis, the crisis itself – to put it simply – manifests itself with a sudden sense of loss of stability and security. It’s easy to see why it goes hand in hand with a decreased quality of life.

What’s important to remember is that there are different types of crises and there are different reactions to each of them. The same situation may be difficult for one person, and may not be as challenging for someone else. As an example, emotional crises can be categorised as follows:

a suicidal crisis,
a crisis caused by facing a life-threatening illness,
a crisis after losing a loved one,
a crisis caused by experiencing physical, sexual or mental abuse,
a crisis caused by traumatic events and disasters,
an identity crisis,
a developmental crisis.

A crisis begins when we’re not able to cope with a difficult problem. It’s often called a turning point in our lives, because to some extent it determines the direction of our development.

What’s significant is that a crisis may also become an opportunity for self-development, for finding your own path and the meaning of your existence. A crisis may also provide us with new skills, which we’ll be able to use when another difficult life event comes our way.

When should you get help?

Primarily in a situation when we’re not able to handle a crisis and its symptoms. This can be recognised through long-term symptoms.

Some of these are: feeling a lack of purpose and hopelessness, a tendency to cry, a decrease in motivation, apathy, social withdrawal, sleeplessness, heart palpitations and shaking hands, feeling dizzy, lack of appetite, fear and anxiety.

Speaking to a crisis interventionist or therapist will help you get through this tough situation, find yourself in it and find an individual path that will lead you to the end of the crisis.

What is crisis intervention?

Throughout the crisis, the defence mechanisms that subconsciously help us to face difficult situations, are weakened. At that point, we generally focus on the symptoms that cause the crisis and forget what could have caused it in the first place. The problem remains unsolved, but the anxiety and mental suffering get worse. The emotions that are released during the crisis may become a problem and lead to emotional burden, because they’re new and unknown.

Crisis intervention is a form of mental health support, which focuses on the problem that triggers the crisis. Crisis management is short-term, preventive and used in an emergency.

In other words – it prevents the crisis from getting worse. The classic model of crisis intervention is based on ensuring emotional support for those in a difficult situation, maintaining a sense of security and lowering anxiety levels caused by the crisis.

What is the aim of crisis intervention?

Crisis intervention strategies are challenging because they often extend beyond the time period of the crisis. The therapist has to be prepared for an individual process for every patient. This is connected with the fact that every person has their own values, worldview and faith. These factors may make it even more problematic to cope with the crisis.

In case of a suicidal threat, the aim of crisis intervention is to save the affected person’s life, even if that person opposes it. The therapist isn’t able to play the role of a judge or God and decide what the value of the other person’s life is. The aim is to save the person’s life, regardless of the quality of that life.

The basic assumption of crisis intervention is that the crisis will last for a certain amount of time. As is the case with any other crisis, it’s impossible to determine how long this will take. During this painful time, keeping the person alive is most important. The therapist offers a great amount of support, maximises the sense of security and understanding, provides hope for a better future, and focuses on the problem.

A crisis during illness

The crisis intervention process is different when, for example, there’s a life-threatening illness. This type of problem generally provides the opportunity to think about the individual’s existence. It’s often a chance to confront mortality, slowly revealing itself in the face of the prospect of one's own or someone else's death.

People who are ill often make conclusions about their lives. A sick person’s crisis advances in the form of worsening somatic symptoms and an increased dependency on others, which may lead to significant frustration and the inability to cope.

Families during a grief crisis

Death is uniquely linked to a psychological crisis. The crisis concerns not one person, but at least two people – the dying person, as well as his/her loved ones, who have to cope with the suffering brought on by the passing of a family member.

Death signifies the end of a crisis for the dying person, but for the person’s family it’s the beginning of the long and painful road of grief. A crisis after the loss of someone close is an internal struggle that leads to the acceptance that this person is missing from our lives. This is a normal process, that ends with peace and healing.

But the difficulty lies in the fact that generally we want to be as close as possible to the person who has passed away, and at the same time we’d like to let go of the suffering and be able to move on. That’s why it’s important to remember that these ambivalent feelings (feeling two extreme emotions simultaneously) are a natural and constant part of every crisis.

The purpose of the grief process is to move away the feelings that we had for the person who has died. When that aim has been achieved, the grief, sadness and other painful feelings will also diminish.

Where should you go for help?

A crisis is can be destructive, but it also gives an opportunity for renewal. The nature of a crisis is interwoven into human life, and there may be as many types of crises as there are people in the world. The most important assumption of crisis intervention is that the therapist and the patient find a way out of the crisis together.

With the help of specialist support, a person experiencing a crisis will learn how to cope with it and will be able to use this knowledge in the future, when he/she encounters more difficulties.

If you’re currently going through a crisis, you can find free interventional help at Interventional Crisis Centres. A list of these centres is on this website: http://www.oik.org.pl/. You can also contact your nearest psychiatric hospital. If you prefer to use the phone, you’ll find a list of crisis helplines here.

References: James RK, Gilliland, BE (2004). Crisis Intervention Strategies. Wadsworth Publishing Co Inc.