Crisis Theory Report

7/31/2019 Crisis Theory Report

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Crisis Theory


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Crisis Definitions

A Crisis may be viewed as

the transitional period

presenting an individual

with, on the one hand, an

opportunity for personality

growth or maturation and,

on the other, a risk of

adverse affect withincreased vulnerability to

subsequent stress.

W Thomas(1909): describedCrisis as a threat, a challenge,a strain on the intention, a callto new action. Yet it need not

always be acute or extreme. Ofcourse a crisis may be soserious as to kill the organismor destroy the group, or it mayresult in failure ordeterioration. But Crisis is notto be regarded as habituallyviolent. It is simply adisturbance of habit and may beno more than an incident, astimulation, a suggestion.


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Crisis Definitions

Erikson(1965): Viewed

personality development

as a succession of

differentiated phases, each

qualitatively different from

its predecessor. Between

one phase and the next are

periods characterised bycognitive and affective

upset.

Gerald Caplan: Refers toCrisis as an upset in the

steady state A crisis is

provoked when anindividual, faced with anobstacle to important life

goals, finds that it is forthe time being

insurmountable throughthe utilisation ofcustomary methods of

problem solving


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Accidental Crises

Traumatic events which might or might nothappen at a given time. These could either

be major catastrophes such as earthquakes,floods, etc., which could affect a wholesection of society. Or individual crises likea child losing its mother at an early age,

even the loss of a job or a brokenrelationship, or any other sudden tragicevent.


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Developmental Crises

Erikson calls these:developmental crises asdistinct from accidental crises associated withvarious life hazards:

Events such as birth, which is a crisis both for themother and the infant, the onset of puberty andadolescence, marriage, the menopause, and so onas we progress through the biological stages oflife. These differ from accidental crisis in thatthey necessarily occur at a given point indevelopment and everyone has to pass throughthem.


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Socio-cultural Crises

These are situations like facing the first dayat school, the Leaving Certificate, or

marriage. Such situations are not part of our biological

development, yet, we have structured oursociety so that, unless these hurdles areovercome, our future is severely curtailed.

Thus we have institutionalised certain formsof crisis that, unless successfully dealt with,

can have very deleterious effects.


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A Turning Point

. A major crisis can often represent aturning point in a persons life. It is a

hurdle, that has to be surmounted if theperson is to continue on satisfactorilythrough life. If a crisis can be handledsuccessfully then the person will be more

mature as a result. But if it cannot beovercome then some maladaptivepathway is likely to develop and thisoften signals the onset of what laterbecomes a formal mental illness.


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Two Main forms of Crisis which

require a different Response- The type of crisis

involved in facing anexamination, tackling a

new job, or thestruggle in lateadolescence to leaveones family of originand become

independent.- This kind of crisis

demands action,,having the courage toface the situation andovercome it.

- The other form is onewhich involves hurt orloss, such as the death of

someone close to us, or tosuffer rape or sexualabuse.

- In these situations theresponse required, is to

feel the pain and workthrough emotion which isappropriate to the situationand in this way resolve it


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Awareness of the significance of

Life Crises Until I went to the States in 1960 and was

exposed to these ideas, there was no

awareness in Ireland or Britain of thesignificance of life crises. People weresimply diagnosed as suffering fromendogenous depression or schizophrenia

Etc., with no sense of how these related tothe crises that they had encountered, or howthese had developed over time.


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Significance of Life Crises

(cont.)- Now some 40 years later crisis

intervention is generally accepted. But

its relation to development of mentalillness later is still not well understood.

- Now, in major catastrophes like an airdisaster or a terrorist bomb, there is oftenan exaggerated response. Droves ofcrisis counsellors descend on the scenewhen most people are in a state of shock

and not in any sense ready to deal withh m i n l ff f h r m


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Intervention when the Time is

Right Later, when the time is right, and they feel safe

enough to be able to emotionally react, crisisintervention can begin and they can be helped tointegrate the pain and anguish surrounding whathappened.

Even so psychiatric diagnosis is still treated assomething unrelated to environmental adaptation,or to the developmental history of the person, and

past crises and traumas are ignored. It is as ifthese so-called illnesses existed outside of time, assome kind of rarefied independent entities


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Determinism

The traditional view was that if all theinfluences, genetic and developmental that

went to form the person enteringadolescence, could be known, then onecould say with certainty how he wouldreact. However, because it is never possible

to know all of these influences fully wecould not make such deterministicpredictions.


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Indeterminism

Over the past 50 years research by Prigogine andothers has demonstrated unequivocally that even ifwe knew all of the inputs and influences playingon an adolescent, we would still not be able to saywith certainty how the situation would evolve.

There is a fundamental indeterminacy in anycomplex system because the essential causeofhow a living system will behave, lies within thatsystem itself. Although it is undoubtedlyinfluenced by its past history, once it reaches acrisis point, no one can say with certainty how it

will behave.


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Indeterminism


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Phases of a Crisis

Phase 1: Initial rise in tension from the impact ofthe stimulus calls forth habitual problem solvingresponses.

Phase 2: Lack of success and continuation ofstimulus is associated with increasing upset andineffectuality.

Phase 3:Further rise in tension acts as a powerfulinternal stimulus and calls out emergency problemsolving mechanisms - novel methods to attack the

problem, trial and error, and attempts to define theproblem in a new way.


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Phases of a crisis (cont.)

Phase 4: As tension mounts beyond afurther threshold, its burden increases to

breaking point. To avoid major disorganisation the person

employs restitutive methods to reduceanxiety and opens up maladaptive

pathways.

These can lead eventually to thedevelopment of various psychiatric

syndromes.


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Crisis Theory

By Ivor Browne


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Crisis Intervention

1. Family, friends or neighbours may

encourage adaptive responses, but in other

instances may reinforce maladaptiveresponses; e.g. in the denial of grief.

2. A person may turn for help to front-line

professionals in the community, i.e. clergy,general practitioners, police, public health

nurses, solicitors, etc.


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Crisis Intervention (cont.)

5. Direct Psychiatric intervention, but this israre. Psychiatrists could be more effective

by working through other professionals.This could be an effective use of their time,enabling them to reach people closer to theoriginal crisis, rather than when illnesses

have become fully defined and arerelatively chronic. Unfortunately in thepresent system this seldom happens.


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Outcome of a Life Crisis

Will depend on: 1) Whether there were similarevents previously in a persons life history, whichremained unresolved. e.g. where one is faced with

the death of a loved one, was there an earlier deathwhich was never healed. This is why to workthrough a life crisis is of such key importance

because, not only will the current situation be

resolved, but any past traumatic events of a similarnature will also be dealt with.


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Crisis outcome (cont.)

2) The culture and family background will alsoeffect the outcome of a life crisis. If a personcomes from a background which tends to deny

expression of emotion, this will affect theircapacity to feel the pain necessary to resolve thesituation.

3) Family advice can be helpful or destructivedepending on whether it helps a person to fullyexperience what has happened, or enables them todeny the emotional implications of the crisis.


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Crisis - Growth or failure

Not a negative phenomenon, it can be justas much an opportunity for personality

growth and development. The outcomeof a crisis therefore depends on how it ishandled and whether the person managesto deal with it effectively. Indeed, if we

did not have to face the stress of lifecrises, we would not develop at all.

Documents

Crisis Theory Report