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.

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