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Crisis Intervention

 

Today’s pressures often produce difficult and traumatic events. A crisis is an experience or an event that can produces mental, emotional, physical, and behavioral distress or problems.  Events or circumstances can cause a crisis situation, such as a natural disaster (earthquake), sexual or physical assault, and loss or changes in relationships (death of a loved one, divorce, or job loss}.

 

People in a crisis seem to lose their problem-solving skills or need to learn new coping mechanisms that will work for them during this difficult time. 

 

Crisis interventions are methods used to offer immediate, short-term help to those individuals experiencing this feeling of helplessness and confusion.

Crisis intervention is usually short-term and can offer you change in about 6 sessions. 

Some people’s reactions include fear, anger, and grief.  They may have difficulty concentrating or have nightmares.  Sleep and appetite may be affected.  It may be that a person’s normal coping techniques are not working and the person cannot adequately problem solve.

 

When your current coping techniques do not resolve your crisis, you may want to turn for help.

 

How Therapy Can Help

 

 Therapy begins with an assessment of what happened and your individual responses to it.  You will become aware of some of your feelings, including fear, anger, and guilt.

A major focus of crisis intervention is learning to explore new coping strategies.  You will learn new techniques such as relaxation, stress management, and new ways of problem solving.

Cognitive therapy is based on the belief that thoughts can influence feeling and behavior and is most effective in crisis intervention. You and your therapist will work towards finding a solution and developing a plan to relieve your stress and produce a positive, lasting outcome. 

 

You and your therapist will make a realistic plan for the future so you will be able to cope more effectively with difficult life events.