The individual is now trying even harder to solve the
problem. And at this stage, the situation may improve, perhaps because the
added problem-solving methods help, or the problem is seen in a new light, or
certain goals are given up. In the fourth phase, the individual suffers major
disorganization when the problem continues and cannot be solved, avoided, or
freshly defined. In this framework, crisis intervention makes use of several
important principles.
First, because the person is teetering, in painful and
pre- carious disequilibrium, a small influence may produce a great change
quickly. The intervention of another person-a physician or other professional,
a family member, a sensitive friend-may significantly affect the outcome for
the better. And the first six weeks are key weeks. Another principle is that
the outcome of the crisis is not determined by previous experiences alone but
by current psychological and situational forces.
And a third principle
is that if the person can be helped to find his equilibrium again, the new
equilibrium may be at a better adaptive level than before; he will not only be
over the hump of the present crisis but perhaps better able to deal with future
crises. Just how does crisis intervention work? Consider a seemingly extreme
case. Mr. A was brought almost forcibly to a crisis clinic by his worried wife
and brother-in-law; he was seemingly on the verge of complete mental breakdown.
He had been acting strangely, talking agitatedly of wild business schemes,
getting up in the middle of the night to make "vital business calls."
Asked by the therapist at the clinic why he was there, Mr. A said he had no idea;
there was nothing wrong with him; and he insisted upon talking jovially about
his business schemes.
Finally, upon being pressed, he admitted that he had had a
back injury recently, had lost some time from work, and that, he supposed, had
worried his wife and was why she had brought him to the clinic. But the
therapist was quickly able to establish that the back injury, though not
severe, had triggered emotional upheaval in Mr. A, causing him to feel that he
was getting older and losing his vigor; and to try to bury such feelings, he
had launched into wild overactivity.
Quietly, the therapist pointed out to him
what had been going on. He needed, first, to calm down, stop feeling tense, and
a sedative would help. And he was to come back in a few days for a consultation;
they would then examine his problem further and try to find a solution.
He returned for that consultation and for another a week
later. And after the second consultation, his wife reported that he was acting
normally again. Crisis intervention does not attempt to make over an
individual, to delve deeply into events that may have formed character. And
yet, often, it can be helpful not only as first aid but as long-lasting aid.
In
crisis intervention, an effort is made to encourage people to actually "experience"
their emotions-to examine them and feel them fully-rather than to merely have
vague, unexamined emotional stirrings and to try to block the stirrings.
