Psychotherapy Vs Crisis Intervention

Psychotherapy Vs Crisis Intervention


Psychotherapy, also known as crisis counseling, is an
organized conceptual framework, which uses multiple
psychological theories to assist an individual towards problem resolution. This type of therapy / counseling may be appropriate after crisis intervention since the goal of psychotherapy is problem resolution and the goal of crisis intervention is problem management. The two should always be treated separate. Both in terms of function and application.
Psychotherapy is usually a longer-term type of counseling.
It relies mainly on establishing communication
between the therapist and individual as a means of
understanding and modifying the individual behavior.
The formulation of a plan of attack on the problem
might be weeks or months in the making while the the
rapist and individual explore for the underlying cause
of the problem that precipitated the crisis that made
the individual seek help to begin with. In psychotherapy,
the therapist leads the individual to self-discovery
and attempts to remediate more or less ongoing
emotional problems in order that new ways of coping
with stress and new patterns of behavior may develop.
Crisis intervention however, deals with the here and
now. The goal of crisis intervention is to help the
individual regain a pre-crisis stability. This can be
accomplished by interrupting the maladaptive behavior
of the individual as skillfully and quickly as
possible. This will often require providing for the
individual that which the individual can not provide
for themselves. This could be emotional or physical
support or even direction at a time in the individual’s
life when self - direction may be impossible.
Therefore, every momement is crucial to the intervener,
especially if the individual is to maximize their
involvement in psychotherapy after the crisis.
Unlike psychotherapy, crisis intervention calls for
instigating plans of action immediately by the
intervener to help the individual discover an adaptive
means of coping with a particular crisis. Since the
term crisis usually refers to a person’s perception
of feelings of fear, shock and / or distress about a
disruption rather than the disruption itself, crisis
intervention requires careful assessment of the
individual, family and environmental factors. Because
of this, the intervener is encouraged to select,
integrate and apply useful concepts and strategies
from all available approaches to help the individual.
Unlike the long, expensive, psychotherapy, crisis
intervention is typically short term, six to twelve
weeks. The focus of intervention must continue to
pertain to the immediate crisis and stay away from
the unresolved issues or past issues unless these
issues pertain directly to the handling of the current
traumatic event.
Both crisis intervention and psychotherapy strive to
maintain equilibrium in the individual. However,
crisis intervention, an intervener takes positive
control providing immediate stability to the individual.
Psychotherapy focuses on the therapist leading the
individual into discovery of self and teaching coping
mechanisms for the true underlying causes of the individuals
personal crisis. Crisis intervention is met to be
short term process mitigating immediate dangers,
where as, psychotherapy is a long term process
leading an individual through underlying traumas to
learn to cope successfully with daily life.

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