Crisis Intervention Paper

For as long as there have been human civilizations, there has been one form of disaster or another. However, it wasn’t until just the last decade or so that people started to understand just how devastating these disasters can be to the human psyche. Acute Stress Disorder (ASD), and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are just two of the examples in which people can be negatively affected by traumatic incidents. It was often though that merely planning for, and reacting to a disaster would be sufficient, however, it has been found that the effects of such devastating disasters can have lasting effects on the human psyche which may often times takes months if not years to manifest. There is hope however, in recent years’ studies have shown that counseling, along with new prescription medications, can effectively reduce the effects of traumatic incidents, possibly nullifying them altogether. It is important however to fully understand the entire crisis intervention process so as to allow emergency managers to be better prepared for any and all eventualities which may, in the future, allow for better overall planning, response, and recovery.
History of Crisis …show more content…
However, crisis intervention theory came about primarily due to a devastating nightclub fire which killed 493 individuals (National Academy of health and Business, 2015). Dr. Lindemann, a doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital, developed the theory that survivors of traumatic experiences often go through differing stages of grief which ended with the survivor accepting, and eventually resolving the loss (National Academy of health and Business, 2015) Dr. Lindemann came up with five specific stages which included preoccupation, Identification, Guilt and Hostility, Disorganization, and Somatic complaints. However, Dr. Lindeman’s was not the