A form of brief psychotherapy that emphasizes identification of a specific event precipitating the emotional trauma and uses methods to neutralize and cope with that trauma. Often used in hospital emergency departments.
Action taken to help relieve an immediately threatening or serious situation, the short-term aim being to remove a threat to health or welfare, the longer-term aim being to help the person or family recognize the problem and learn how to cope with it. The term may, for example, refer to emergency services provided by a social worker to relieve stress within a family or to remove a child from a possible child-abuse setting, or to a parent’s confronting and providing help for a child on drugs. Similar action taken before an immediate threat exists is called early intervention.
In psychiatry treatment to help resolve an immediate problem or reduce an emotional trauma, the aim being to restore the person to the pre-crisis level of functioning.
Providing immediate care or advice to people with acute physical or psychological problems. In psychiatry, crisis intervention constitutes a form of intense, short-term therapy that centers on the event that triggered an emotional trauma.
A problem-solving activity for correcting or preventing the continuation of an emergency, especially one caused by psychological distress or drug overdose.
The term “crisis intervention” refers to the prompt provision of guidance or assistance to individuals facing acute personal or sociomedical challenges, typically delivered by agencies such as social services departments.