Crisis intervention

“The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word ‘crisis.’ One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger–but recognize the opportunity.”  — John F. Kennedy

"Emotional crisis is a universal experience. It can happen to anyone, at any time. When we are exposed to this extraordinary situation, we develop amazing and creative ways to protect ourselves"2.

People cannot control whether they experience a crisis, and it does not reflect anything about who they are as a person. Rather than wondering ‘what’s wrong with them?’, try to reframe the curiosity as ‘what happened to them?’

Sometimes, being in an emotional crisis can cause people to behave in a way that might be different or unusual than what others are used to. These behaviors are protective mechanisms and have meaning behind them. Below are some tactics to try and employ in order to help stabilize someone in crisis.

Reducing anxiety

In order to have the best chance at avoiding hospitalization, reducing anxiety is the first vital step in creating a successful a crisis intervention.

Hospitalization often occurs when the person in crisis or their social support network feels that they are unable to handle the anxiety that is created due to the individual’s presentation and behavior. In order to best support the individual in crisis, it is important to engage and assist the support network as much as the individual.

Containing the crisis with wrap-around services involves several different tasks:

  1. Increasing the number of visits by mental health professionals for regular check-ins, preferably conducted in the home. There is a greater likelihood that hospital admission is avoided when assessment is conducted in the home rather than in the hospital or emergency room1.
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  2. Allowing the individual and their network to have direct access to mental health professionals at all times, such as 24/7 phone access to a mental health emergency hotline or clinician.

normalizing behavior

De-mystifying the potential reasons behind the confusing behaviors helps reduce anxiety by giving explanations that people can better understand and consider. You can normalize bizarre behaviors through working within a psychosocial framework that attempts to imply meaning within the context of the clients’ own life and history. 

It is important to reframe the crisis from a “mental issue” (and its associated absence of individual power and control) to a “life issue” (where empowerment and responsibility can be fostered and encouraged). Avoid focusing on the behaviors displayed and focus on the cause of said behaviors.

"An individual having unusual difficulties in coping with his environment struggles and kicks up the dust, as it were. I have used the figure of a fish caught on a hook: his gyrations must look peculiar to other fish that don’t understand the circumstances; but his splashes are not his affliction, they are his effort to get rid of his affliction and as every fisherman knows these efforts may succeed."

Karl Menninger