A psychological crisis is a situation in which the person suffers a sudden serious disaster, injury from a major life event, or overly intense mental stress that causes a significant change in life conditions, especially difficulties that are insurmountable beyond his or her living conditions, knowledge and experience, so that he or she falls into a state of pain and anxiety, often accompanied by despair, insensitivity, anxiety, and somatic symptoms and behavioral disorders.
Characteristics of psychological crisis.
(1) It is usually self-limiting and mostly disappears within 1 to 6 weeks if appropriate support is received after the crisis.
(2) During a crisis, most people will signal that they need help and are more willing to accept outside help or intervention, and are also prone to experiencing psychological harm again.
(3) The prognosis depends on the individual’s qualities, adaptability, proactivity, and appropriate help or intervention from others.
(4) During the crisis period, if the person repeatedly experiences frustration and loss and fails to receive timely psychological support, he or she will negatively utilize or even destroy supportive resources and produce serious health hazards or social damage.
Three stages that the psyche necessarily goes through during a psychological crisis.
Anyone will react to a serious event, but the intensity and duration of the reaction to the same crisis event varies from person to person. The coping process can be divided into three stages: the first stage is the immediate reaction, where the person concerned shows denial, disbelief, doubt, or even numbness; the second stage is the complete reaction, feeling anxiety, tension, pain, agitation or anger, and may also produce guilt, guilt, withdrawal or depression; and the third stage is the elimination stage, where the person accepts the facts and plans for the future. The crisis process does not last long, e.g., the dwelling bereavement reaction to the sudden death of a loved one or friend usually disappears within 6 months, otherwise it needs to be considered pathological.
Common mental health problems following a crisis.
1. Acute stress disorder: a strong reaction that occurs at the time of or after a distressing event, lasting at least 2 days but no more than 4 weeks.
2, Post-traumatic stress disorder: intense, delayed, and sometimes abnormal reactions following a severe stressful event that last more than 1 month.
3.Dissociative disorder, depression, etc.
4.Substance abuse such as alcohol.
5.Self-injury and suicide.
6.Aggression and violent behavior.
Common psychological crisis manifestations
Cognition
The most frightening images are still vivid in your mind, some kind of stimulating images, sounds or smells, lack of concentration, confusion, incoherent speech, memory loss, healthy beliefs are challenged or destroyed, involuntary thoughts such as “I did this to him”, “If I had tried harder, maybe she would have left or could have been saved. If I had tried harder, maybe she would have left or could have been saved”, “I would have died sooner or later, so I might as well have died earlier”, “What’s the point of living”, etc… …
Emotions
Frightened and afraid, mourning, worrying, lonely and helpless, vulnerable and helpless, sighing and lamenting, numb and detached, difficult to accept, guilty (guilt), ashamed, easily stressed or throwing tantrums, indecisive, etc. ……
Fear and worry
Very worried that the earthquake will happen again.
Fear that you or a loved one will be hurt and that you will be left alone.
Fear of breaking down or not being able to control yourself.
Feelings of helplessness
Feeling how fragile and vulnerable people are.
Not knowing what to do in the future and feeling that the future is uncertain.
Feeling that the world is coming to an end or that everything will be empty in the blink of an eye.
Sadness
This is the most common feeling and emotion, feeling very sad and grief for the death or injury of a loved one or other person.
Most people will cry loudly or sob continuously to vent or express their feelings.
A few people express it with numbness and indifference without expression.
Feelings of guilt
Feeling that no one can help me? Hating myself for not being able to save my family and wishing it was me who died instead of my loved ones.
Feeling guilty for being luckier than others.
Feeling like I did something wrong or didn’t do what I should have done to be able to prevent the death of my loved one.
Anger
Feeling how God can be so unfair to me.
How disaster relief moves so slowly.
Others simply don’t know my needs and don’t understand understand my pain.
Disappointment and longing
Constantly expecting a miracle, only to be disappointed again and again.
A sense of loss of love.
The memory of a dead loved one often feels like a pinch in the heart.
Behavior
Tears, blaming oneself, blaming others, complaining, trying desperately to do something, running out of the house all the time, not wanting to talk or desperately trying to find someone to talk to, living alone or especially wanting company, drinking to drown one’s sorrows, smoking, taking sleeping pills, drifting off ……
Physiology
Fatigue (general weakness), not being able to eat, not sleeping well or sleeping all the time, nightmares, headache, stomach upset, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, tightness in the chest (like a big rock), inability to catch your breath, goose bumps, general tightness, easily startled by phone calls or sirens, etc. ……
What is Psychological Crisis Intervention?
Psychological crisis intervention refers to the timely provision of appropriate psychological assistance to individuals or groups in a state of psychological crisis, so that they can get out of the situation as soon as possible.
The essence of post-disaster psychological crisis intervention is a remobilization and resource reintegration of social, human, intellectual and emotional resources. To address various psychological stress injuries that cannot be well resolved by conventional methods. From the perspective of existential psychology, it is another in-depth exploration and experience of the meaning of life.