Psychotherapy Vs Crisis Intervention Essay, Research Paper

Psychotherapy, also known as crisis counseling, is an

organized conceptual framework, which uses multiple

psychological theories to assist an individual towards problem resolution. This type of therapy / counseling may be appropriate after crisis intervention since the goal of psychotherapy is problem resolution and the goal of crisis intervention is problem management. The two should always be treated separate. Both in terms of function and application.

Psychotherapy is usually a longer-term type of counseling.

It relies mainly on establishing communication

between the therapist and individual as a means of

understanding and modifying the individual behavior.

The formulation of a plan of attack on the problem

might be weeks or months in the making while the the

rapist and individual explore for the underlying cause

of the problem that precipitated the crisis that made

the individual seek help to begin with. In psychotherapy,

the therapist leads the individual to self-discovery

and attempts to remediate more or less ongoing

emotional problems in order that new ways of coping

with stress and new patterns of behavior may develop.

Crisis intervention however, deals with the here and

now. The goal of crisis intervention is to help the

individual regain a pre-crisis stability. This can be

accomplished by interrupting the maladaptive behavior

of the individual as skillfully and quickly as

possible. This will often require providing for the

individual that which the individual can not provide

for themselves. This could be emotional or physical

support or even direction at a time in the individual?s

life when self – direction may be impossible.

Therefore, every momement is crucial to the intervener,

especially if the individual is to maximize their

involvement in psychotherapy after the crisis.

Unlike psychotherapy, crisis intervention calls for

instigating plans of action immediately by the

intervener to help the individual discover an adaptive

means of coping with a particular crisis. Since the

term crisis usually refers to a person?s perception

of feelings of fear, shock and / or distress about a

disruption rather than the disruption itself, crisis

intervention requires careful assessment of the

individual, family and environmental factors. Because

of this, the intervener is encouraged to select,

integrate and apply useful concepts and strategies

from all available approaches to help the individual.

Unlike the long, expensive, psychotherapy, crisis

intervention is typically short term, six to twelve

weeks. The focus of intervention must continue to

pertain to the immediate crisis and stay away from

the unresolved issues or past issues unless these

issues pertain directly to the handling of the current

traumatic event.

Both crisis intervention and psychotherapy strive to

maintain equilibrium in the individual. However,

crisis intervention, an intervener takes positive

control providing immediate stability to the individual.

Psychotherapy focuses on the therapist leading the

individual into discovery of self and teaching coping

mechanisms for the true underlying causes of the individuals

personal crisis. Crisis intervention is met to be

short term process mitigating immediate dangers,

where as, psychotherapy is a long term process

leading an individual through underlying traumas to

learn to cope successfully with daily life.