Their idea, in essence, was that there are sound and
unsound, adaptive and maladaptive, ways of meeting a range of emotional hazards
during life, each of which may have important consequences for later
psychological soundness and ability to cope. Their hope was to be able to step
in when a patient, up against an emotional crisis, couldn't handle it properly.
They hoped to help him to handle it, and in so doing not only keep him
functioning effectively but also maintain his ability to meet other, later crises,
perhaps less Significant ones, perhaps just as significant.
The Korean War
helped buttress the idea. During that conflict it was discovered that
psychiatric first aid administered on the spot to battle-shocked soldiers often
quickly restored them to duty. On the other hand, those sent home for
long-drawn-out institutional treatment responded slowly.
To go into a little more detail, crisis intervention rests
on the concept that as an individual meets problems in daily life he may become
temporarily emotionally upset. The upsets, however, are managed by techniques
he has learned in the past: by tolerance of tension, by hopeful expectation
that the problem will be solved (based on past successes in solving problems),
and by various methods he has learned to use to discharge tension.
Soon, he regains his previous equilibrium. When, however,
the problem is a greater one and previous problem- solving methods are not
suitable, then the person may move from what might be called an emotionally
hazardous state into a crisis state. And the word "crisis" is used
not as a synonym for emergency but rather for an acute, often prolonged
disturbance in an individual as the result of an emotionally hazardous
situation.
The crisis period, in fact, can be divided into four phases. In the
first, there is a rise of tension along with some disorganization of behavior
as the impact of the hazardous situation is realized and the usual
problem-meeting techniques are brought to bear. In the second phase, tension
mounts as the problem remains unsolved. In the third phase, the tension reaches
a point at which still more resources are mobilized.
