Vecchi, Van Hasselt, & Romano define a crisis as "the result of a conflict gone awry" that cannot be solved through normal means (2005, p. 537).
Stages in Crisis
Vecchi, Van Hasselt, & Romano wrote extensively on crisis stages. They declared that crisis occurs across four stages: "pre-crisis, crisis, accommodation/negotiation, and resolution" (2005, p. 537). Pre-crisis, they wrote, is characterized by one's lack of awareness of the impending crisis (2005). The crisis stage, they explained, is "characterized by high emotions, low rationality, and an inability to cope with a problem that is perceived to be a serious threat" (2005, p. 538). They define the accommodation/negotiation phase as the one in which rational thinking increases, emotional tension decreases, and problem solving can occur (2005). Finally, they explain that the resolution phase is where crisis-ending solutions can be found (2005).
The Crisis State
Vecchi, Van Hasselt, & Romano define the crisis state by three indications:
- "The person in crisis behaves at an intense emotional and irrational level (rather than at a rational/thinking level) in response to a situation that is perceived as overwhelming
- The situation has occurred within the past 24 to 48 h
- The event is seen as a threat to one's psychological and/or physical well-being" (2005, p. 537).
Crisis leaves a person without normal cognitive functioning, causing them to operate at an "emotional or affective level" (Vecchi, Van Hasselt, & Romano, 2005, p. 538). Crisis negotiation, they continue, involves "restoring the ability of a person to cope through the reestablishment of baseline functioning levels" (2005, p. 538). Bringing a person down from crisis has four goals: communicating and building a relationship with the individual in crisis, stalling that individual for time, calming the individual, and assessing the best strategy for resolution (Vecchi, Van Hasselt, & Romano, 2005).
