Common Elements of a Crisis: The State of Active Crisis, Part 1
When a person with a great problem can no longer handle the situation, the active crisis develops. There are indications of this state and they are listed below.
1. Symptoms of stress – psychological, physiological, or both.
This indicator may include headaches, anxiety, depression and even bleeding ulcers. The point is that some type of extreme discomfort is always present.
2. An attitude of panic or defeat.
The person in active crisis may feel frustrated and that he has tried everything and nothing works. Therefor, he feels like a failure – defeated, helpless and overwhelmed. He feels like there is no more hope for him.
At this time, he has two ways of responding:
a) …becoming agitated with behavior that is unproductive. This may include drinking, taking drugs, speeding or getting into a fight.
b) …becoming apathetic. An example is excessive sleeping.
Common Elements of a Crisis: The Precipitating Factor
The precipitating factor is the “straw that broke the camel’s back.” There are people who seem to hold together during times of extreme loss, heartache or great problems and then fall apart over simple stuff like a dropped glass or any broken item. These were the last straw but the reaction and tears are in response to the loss, heartache or problem.
Common Elements of a Crisis: The Vulnerable State
For a person to be considered in a crisis, the person must be in a vulnerable state. Going without sleep for a couple of nights can make a person vulnerable to a situation to a situation that that person would usually handle easily. Illness or depression lowers the capability to cope.
It is important that during times of vulnerability to guide and counsel the person to not make any major decision because such decisions are regretted later most of the time.
Common Elements of a Crisis: A Hazardous Event
The first element is a hazardous event. This is some occurence that starts a chain reaction of events that culminates in a crisis.
Some examples of hazardous events are:
1) A college senior who gave himself to his sport during his entire stay at school in order to be selected by the pros gets a major injury during an outdoor event
2) A young wife who prepared for her career for six years now discovers she is about to become a mother
3) A widow raising five pre-adolescent children loses her job in a very specialized profession
All these people in the examples and those who want to help them need to identify the precipitating events as the crisis is dealt.