Crisis Intervention “a highly emotional temporary state in which an individual’s feelings of anxiety, grief, confusion or pain impair his/her ability to act”

Qualities and Characteristics of a Crisis 1) period of heightened psychological accessibility 2) usually stimulated by an outside precipitator 3) are normal reactions to emotionally hazardous situations 4) individual’s appraisal/perception determines the occurrence and seriousness of the crisis

Qualities and Characteristics (cont’d) 5) the more seriously threatening the appraisal, the greater the likelihood for primitive coping behaviors 6) persons in crisis tend to “pull away” from contact 7) persons in crisis tend to lose all concept of time

How a Crisis Develops 1) Stimulus/Precipitating Event 2) Appraisal of Situation by the Individual 3) Coping Methods and Personal Resources

Types of Crisis 1) Developmental 2) Situational Potential Crises

The ABC Method of Crisis Intervention (Stone) “A”: Achieving contact with the person in crisis. “B”: Boiling down the problem to its essentials. “C”: Coping with the problem.

Suicide Why discuss suicide? Edwin Shneidman: father of the suicide prevention movement in the United States

Feelings Suicide Survivors Experience Shame: predominant feeling Guilt Anger Fear Distorted Thinking

Effective Listening Principles for Serving Suicide Survivors “Do’s”: Be an active listener, observe body language, clarify, paraphrase Listen for the 5 most common concerns: The need to know why. Guilt Anger Finding someone to blame. Client’s fear that they too are capable of suicide. Make appropriate referrals

“Don’ts” When Serving Suicide Survivors Don’t answer questions that have not been asked. Don’t answer exclamations as questions that require an answer. Don’t answer questions that are theological, psychological or medical.

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Only national not-for-profit organization exclusively dedicated to funding research, developing prevention initiatives and offering educational programs and conferences for survivors, mental health professionals, physicians and the public. www.afsp.org

Homicide/Sudden Death Survivor may have: sense of unreality, guilt, need to blame, helplessness, unfinished business Medical and legal authorities. “fight or flight response” Increased need to understand “Why?” Follow-up and appropriate referrals.

SIDS Over 8000 babies/year in the U.S. Occurs in infants under 1 year. Most frequent: 2-6 months Complicating factors: Death occurs without warning. Absence of a definite cause. Involvement of the legal system. Meaning of the deceased child. Marital turmoil. Sadness and anger.

AIDS Features that could affect the bereavement process: Contagion Stigma Lack of Social Support Untimely Deaths Multiple Losses Protracted Illness/Disfigurement Neurological Complications