Crisis vs. Non-Crisis
Do any of your friends seem to have one crisis after another? Well, at least that’s what they call them. Sure, some of these are upsetting. Yet they don’t qualify as what you think of as being a crisis. Then again, maybe you’ve got it wrong.
Well, maybe you don’t! This blog is here to guide you with thinking through what a crisis is. There are different types of crises. Because of that, what you read here will compare an actual crisis with a non-crisis. You’ll also read about dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) that helps people cope during tough times.
A Crisis Is…
A crisis is a problem that comes on suddenly. According to Pittisburd University, a crisis is a “time of intense difficulty, danger, in which an immediate solution is needed.” It might be a school shooting or a fire at a neighbor’s home or a broken bone during an athletic game. It may be temporary or its results might last a long time. Sometimes the crisis is due to a bad storm or a wildfire. At other times it’s because of other awful, scary things.
Hearing about these makes you wonder how people manage to go on. At the same time, you’re not sure if the trouble you or a friend is having is a crisis or something else.
Personal Crisis
How do you know if your distress is a crisis? A personal or emotional crisis has a slightly different definition than the one above. An emotional crisis typically has the following characteristics:
It is temporary distress or personal disturbance
It is caused by a threat associated with the meaning of life/values/or confrontation with life problems
For example, a personal crisis may be triggered by the loss of a family member or a traumatic event. An emotional crisis requires an immediate resolution. It is unbearably difficult and exhausting for someone to navigate.
Non-Crisis Is…
A non-crisis can feel like a crisis on the surface. One difference is that the trouble isn’t temporary. . It’s something that we have or will have to manage long-term. Though we may experience intense difficult emotions, not all distress is a crisis. This is an important distinction.
So, how do you tell the difference?
When there’s a non-crisis, people often rely on what they learned from past issues or events. Think of a winter storm. There’s advance warning so your family makes sure there’s food on hand and the means for staying warm. You haul out their shovels and winter gear. Sure, the storm may be a nuisance because of school cancellations, yet you’ve learned how to deal based on past winters. Of course, too much snow or wind can turn that storm into a blizzard with crisis conditions.
DBT, Coping Skills, and Crisis
By now you likely realize that there are a few keys to the difference between a crisis and a non-crisis. Along with the sudden nature of a crisis, a person, family, or the larger community, has not developed the coping skills needed to work through the trauma and/or damage.
The coping skills that teens and young adults develop through dialectical behavior therapy sessions aid with emotional regulation. This means that you and/or your friends can learn to deal with personal pressures as well as cultural and environmental stressors. This results in reductions in self-harm, be it cutting, misuse or abuse of substances, or reckless driving.
The skills you learn during individual, group, and family sessions are shown to reduce negative emotions. This is most likely to happen when you devote several months to the DBT therapy that supports your coping skills development.
