Crisis results from high levels of stress that overwhelm a person's normal coping abilities. A crisis can occur when a situation is encountered that the person has little experience dealing with. This leaves them feeling powerless and unable to think rationally due to high anxiety levels. During a crisis, people naturally seek support from others but may feel abandoned if not supported, exacerbating their anxiety further. Without an ability to cope or see solutions, people can enter a state of "learned helplessness" focused only on short-term survival rather than resolving the crisis. Crisis intervention aims to provide support and direction to help victims cope when they cannot help themselves.

1. CRISIS. WHAT CRISIS?
What is a Crisis?
Crisis results from stress and tension in a person’s life.
Stress is the element in crisis development. As stress
mounts to unusual proportions and the individual’s
coping skills become increasingly ineffective, the
potential for crisis occurs.
The Nature of Crises
A crisis overrides an individual’s normal psychological and
biological coping mechanisms. Several features of critical
incidents account for the overwhelming and bewildering
nature of a crisis. As people grow and develop, they
continually meet new demands. These demands could be
intellectual, employment-related, economic, or rooted in
relationships with other people. Individuals meet these
demands and practice resolving them so often that they
form coping mechanisms, or “cognitive maps,” to deal with them. These maps assist people
who face a potential problem to categorize it, determine the resources needed to overcome it,
choose a solution, and set a goal for the problem’s resolution.
Occasionally, however, individuals confront situations they have seldom or never encountered
in the past. As a result, they have not developed adequate coping mechanisms to deal with
them. These crises leave individuals feeling overwhelmed and powerless. For many people,
these crises cause their heightened emotions to impair their ability to think rationally.
As a consequence of feeling powerless and helpless, individuals may experience extreme levels
of physiological arousal in the form of anxiety --- the natural human response to threat and
danger. This anxiety serves to disrupt further their ability to think clearly. Consequently, when
individuals face a crisis, their increased levels of arousal interfere with attempts to cope with an
already incomprehensible circumstance.
During situations of crisis, people spontaneously turn to others for comfort, support,
understanding, and protection. Some research suggests that people possess a biological need
for attachment. Crises, however, have the potential to disconnect individuals from necessary
sources of support. When the cry for attachment and support is not answered due to others’
misunderstanding of, fear of, anger with, disappointment in, or disagreement with the
individual in crisis, that person feels utterly abandoned.
The absence of support during a crisis represents the loss of the primary human coping
resource. Without the sense of security provided by others, the troubled individual’s already

2. extreme state of physiological arousal is exacerbated further. As a growing feeling of despair
sets in, the person feels unable to escape the crisis. When all roads back to equilibrium seem
blocked, the individual's ability to cope becomes overwhelmed.
As every attempt to deal with the perceived threat seemingly meets with failure, the individual
learns to do nothing. This state of “learned helplessness” is characterized by constricted
thinking and an inability to see even the most obvious solutions. Instead, the individual focuses
on moment-to-moment survival. This shift in thinking only complicates the individual's
situation, serving to undermine the sense of personal competence and effectiveness while
increasing anxiety even more.
Crisis Intervention/Management is an attempt to deal quickly with an immediate problem.
Often it requires providing for victims that which the victims cannot provide for themselves.
This can include a physical or emotional crutch to lean on, and even direction by the intervener
at a time in the victim’s life when self-direction may be impossible.
Anatomy of a Crisis
The following four levels have been identified in a crisis:
 Anxiety Level
 Defensive Level
 Acting Out Physically
 Tension Reduction Stage*
* You need to be aware that this stage may occur at any level in the crisis.
Based on information from The Crisis Prevention Institute
Top photo credit Jason Eppink via Flickr CC
Rae Stonehouse is a Registered Nurse with over 30 years experience working in
psychiatry/mental health. He is the author of PROtect Yourself! Empowering Tips &
Techniques for Personal Safety: A Practical Violence Prevention Manualfor Healthcare
Workers
As well as Power Networking for Shy People: Tips & Techniques for Moving from Shy to Sly!
And the soon to be released E=Emcee Squared: Tips & Techniques to Becoming a Dynamic

3. Master of Ceremonies.