Having a Personal Crisis?

These past few weeks I found myself experiencing a crisis. During my crisis, I found myself tensing up, stressing out, and in some sort of disequilibrium. This crisis led me to question, how do others cope with a crisis or crises?

Google defines crisis as the following:

"A time of intense difficulty, trouble, or danger.

"the current economic crisis"

synonyms:emergency, disaster, catastrophe, calamity; More

a time when a difficult or important decision must be made.

"a crisis point of history"

synonyms:critical point, turning point, crossroads, watershed, head, moment of truth, zero hour, point of no return, Rubicon, doomsday; More.the turning point of a disease when an important change takes place, indicating either recovery or death."

I have worked with a plethora of clients in my work as a Social Worker and Psychotherapist who have experienced or are dealing with a crisis, however no matter how many people you know or see experiencing a crisis, it still never prepares you for your own.

Although I am a strong proponent for deep breathing and self care, all that seemed to go out the window when dealing with my crisis. It felt like the whole situation was out of control and like my whole world was turned upside down.

Everyone experiences and handles crises differently like many other situations. The common denominator? It is an event that it is not planned for and as a result can make anyone feel caught off guard.

In dealing with a crisis, it may be useful to determine what type of crisis it is. In Social Work and Psychotherapy, there are two distinguishable types of crises:

1. Maturational Crisis

2. Situational Crisis

A Maturational Crisis is stress during the course of a major life event such as a new job or having a child.

A Situational Crisis is distinguished as a traumatic event such as the death of a loved one, an illness, a burglary.

It is important to determine which type of crisis you are experiencing, so that you can identify and tackle it based on what it is. Personally, I experienced a situational crisis over the past few weeks.

Because your equilibrium functioning may be thrown off during a crisis, it is critical to focus on restoring the equilibrium by developing new coping mechanisms and developing problem-solving skills.

It is always helpful to get professional help from a Psychotherapist to also provide you with tools in dealing with a crisis and being able to "talk it out" and process it. Most Psychotherapy sessions focused on a Crisis Intervention are short term with approximately 6 sessions.

Everyone experiences a crisis, therefore it is important to acknowledge it, no matter how uncomfortable so you can address and manage it! You will get through this!

Thank you for talking it out,

Melissa