Different crises continue to assail the global population, some caused by human beings themselves while others by nature. Regardless of causes and magnitudes of the outcomes, most of these crises have a detrimental impact on overall mental health of their victims (Silva, Siegmund " Bredemeier, 2015). This may be as a result of witnessing such events, causing Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or other outcomes associated with the same including losing loved ones, properties, constantly moving to new environments, among others. In addition, these outcomes not only affect the victims of a crises, but also society in which they live, especially on a long-term basis. As such, when people experience these scenarios, it is both necessary and appropriate to apply crisis intervention strategies, in a bid to alleviate possible psychological health issues.
Identification of the Issue
Crises have become an almost everyday occurrence in contemporary society. These can be personal, such as death of a loved one, normal developmental issues, suicide attempts, divorce or involving a wide range of factors like shootings, hurricanes, mass accidents, fires among others. Brown and Reiner (2006) refer to crisis as “circumstances that alarm us to the point of distress and distraction.” (953). Crises are categorized into four major groups, eco-systematic, situational, existential, and developmental (Solmonson, " Killam, 2013). Crisis intervention, therefore, defines a short-term, and immediate psychological therapy that aims at helping people in crisis, with the goals of restoring balance to their normal body functioning as well as minimize risks of PTSD and development of other long-term mental conditions. The immediacy of crisis intervention implies that psychologists work with victims when their feelings regarding a particular situation are full-blown and most vulnerable to other detrimental conditions such as trauma.
Crisis intervention is a serious contemporary issue in psychology because first, there are many situations that fall in the realm of its definition. In other words, there are numerous situations that require crisis intervention as an immediate form of help. Additionally, the fact that crisis intervention requires immediate psychological help makes it a form of preventive therapy, which greatly differentiates it from other forms of therapy (Brown " Reiner, 2006). Victims of different crises are highly vulnerable to immobilization or falling to maladaptive cognitions, necessitating for a hasty intervention. This presents an additional problem of mobilizing the necessary resources in the shortest time possible to provide required services to an equally sensitive population. Therefore, the urgency of crisis intervention and increased situations that can be defined as a crisis makes this a contemporary psychological issue.
Relating Crisis Intervention to Cultural Psychological Theory
One of the salient psychological school of thought in crisis intervention is cultural theory. Therefore, the importance of cultural competency in situations requiring crisis intervention cannot be over emphasized. According to the cultural theory, “human psyche cannot exist independently of its sociocultural contexts, and therefore, the study of human actions must consider the contexts in which these actions take place.” (Eom " Kim, 2014). Akin, in crisis intervention, psychologists require to apply this knowledge in understanding client diversity and various background factors likely to impact their cognition.
Crises victims are bound to be diverse culturally, religion-wise, nationality, language, ethnicity, race, among other factors. More often than less, given the urgency of crisis intervention, issues such as cultural differences are often neglected or not placed among the top priority considerations. Furthermore, the success of a crisis intervention is contingent on how fast a psychologist can develop trust with the victim. Cultural diversity, therefore, becomes a major factor because the professional has to overcome related factors in a bid to restore a victim’s coping mechanism and almost normal functioning that ensures they are psychologically sound to deal with the situation. As such, a hasty trust and rapport development between diverse individuals necessitates for both verbal and non-verbal communication by the professional (Eom " Kim, 2014).
The topic of cultural diversity involves various principle aims for psychologists to apply and consider during crisis intervention. First, psychologists are needed to prioritize their self-awareness through being comfortable with any problems they might have regarding diversity. Furthermore, cultural theory requires professionals to evaluate their past experiences with situations characterized by diversity, and determine how this may affect their manner of dealing with victims of crises. Second, therapists must have a working and accurate knowledge regarding the victim’s culture, which acknowledges that they have learnt about them and are at the same time, open and willing to continue understanding them. Finally, cultural psychology theory necessitates for skills adaptation to distinct cultures and a refrainment from a stereo-typed or a “one-size-fits-all” strategy to crisis intervention (Alegria et al, 2010).
Challenges of Crisis Intervention
Crisis intervention presents challenges to both psychology and society as a whole. As aforementioned, the success of crisis intervention depends on how fast professionals respond to stressful situations, which presents particular problems in psychology. First, the realm of crisis intervention is wide and does not involve a specific issue. Solmonson and Killam (2013) affirms that “Crisis can be defined in many ways and is often dependent upon the perception of the individuals involved.” As such, some counsellors, and especially those working in educational environments may be inadequately prepared for some of these situations. Furthermore, numerous competencies required of a professional such as cultural diversity, communication skills, ability to empathize with different populations and situations, among others, and in a short span of time exacerbates the challenges. While these are the basic skills required of psychologists, the condition that professionals responding to a crisis have to prepare in a short period and expected to apply them to a highly vulnerable person makes it a sensitive process.
Challenges presented by crisis intervention to society especially arises when there is a possibility of victims not recovering from a crisis. In other words, an unsuccessful crisis intervention process leaves society with psychologically traumatized victims, some whom professionals might mistake for having recovered (Brown " Rainer, 2006). In addition, the sensitivity associated with a crisis intervention requires that societies, especially those prone to constant crises organize required resources in advance. Services and resources required in such situations may involve high costs, and if not properly funded, equates to possible absence of a crisis intervention program (Compton et al., 2010).
Conclusion
Crisis intervention is the urgent psychological assistance offered to victims of a crisis, to restore their normal functioning status. Cultural psychology is one of the theories that primarily relate with crisis intervention because psychologists dealing with such situations are bound to interact with diverse victims. The immediacy nature of crisis intervention also presents problems to the field of psychology and society at large. As such, it is salient for professionals to recognize and provide solutions to these problems, which will ensure improved outcomes of crisis intervention.
References
Alegria, M., Atkins, M., Farmer, E., Slaton, E., " Stelk, W. (2010). One size does not fit all: taking diversity, culture and context seriously. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 37(1-2), 48-60.
Brown, F. F., " Rainer, J. P. (2006). Too much to bear: An introduction to crisis intervention and therapy. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 62(8), 953-957.
Compton, M. T., Broussard, B., Hankerson-Dyson, D., Krishan, S., Stewart, T., Oliva, J. R., " Watson, A. C. (2010). System-and policy-level challenges to full implementation of the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) model. Journal of Police Crisis Negotiations, 10(1-2), 72-85.
Eom, K., Kims, S, H. (2014). Cultural Psychological Theory. Social Theories 328-344.
Le’Ann, L. S., " Killam, W. A National Study on Crisis Intervention: Are School Counselors Prepared to Respond? ACA Professional Information and Library.
Silva, J. A. M. D., Siegmund, G., " Bredemeier, J. (2015). Crisis interventions in online psychological counseling. Trends in psychiatry and psychotherapy, 37(4), 171-182.
