Crisis Case

"Crisis" can be defined in many ways; however the general meaning is that "crisis is a perception or experiencing of an event or situation as an intolerable difficulty that exceeds the person's current resources and coping mechanisms." (James, 2008, p. 3)

The first crisis situation I have chosen is that of a mother who doesn't know what to do now that her baby has been born. She is not sure where she is going with her life, and how she is going to handle a newborn child. She is frozen, unsure of what to do. This is both a developmental and situational crisis. It is considered a crisis because the mother is temporarily unable to function in her current state. She is unable to use coping mechanisms to resolve her stress levels and therefore cannot take care of her baby. The mother cannot resolve her confusion about her life path on her own and needs assistance.

The second crisis I have chosen is a tornado. A family of four living in a mobile home lose their home after a tornado sweeps through their town, taking many families homes with it. The family is shell shocked and stunned. They don't know what to do or where to turn. They have no family in the area and are frightened that they may have no place to go. They are concerned about food, shelter, and water. They also don't know where to begin to deal with the loss of their home and parts of their community. This is a ecosystemic crisis.

An existential crisis would be where a woman who never went to college feels that she will be working her factory job the rest of her life, and that she may never have the opportunity to go to college to better herself or to get that office job she always wanted. She feels worthless and sad and is unable to get herself out of bed to go to work anymore. She feels like she cannot handle life's bumps and bruises that head her way because of her lack of an education. She feels like she is not smart enough.

What all of these situations have in common is that the people involved feel hopeless and lost, like they have nowhere to turn and like they are frozen on the spot unable to do anything. In these three situation the individuals involved "break down psychologically at the onset of the crisis and clearly demonstrate that they are incapable of going any further with their lives unless given immediate intensive assistance." (James, 2008, p. 4) In crisis one the mother is unable to continue to take care of her baby because of her crisis state. In situation two, the family is unable to process the loss of their home and the overwhelming task of finding ways to meet their most basic needs. In crisis three the woman is unable to function due to her loss of self esteem and own personal good regard. In all three of these situations