What makes a Critical Incident a Crisis?

by | Feb 4, 2018 | Crisis 101, Mailbag

A critical incident is any event that disrupts someone’s life (flood, fire, death/loss, accident, etc.) and the crisis is the stress – or distress – that follows.

But not all crises are created equal.  Have you ever noticed people having different reactions after experiencing the exact same event? Same unexpected tragedy has one person in the fetal position and another asking about lunch…  The reason for this is found in (what we call) the “factors” that influence the stress response.

In training, we teach you the internal and external factors found within us all – but here are a few of the external factors.

  1. Personal.  We define this as – how closely connected someone is to the people, places and things involved.  The closer someone is to people, places and things…the higher the stress response.  And the higher the stress response, the more someone is in crisis.  There is a difference between seeing a car accident and being in the car accident.

  2. Frequency and Duration.  We define this as – amount of stress person experienced before, during and after incident (not necessarily caused by the event).  A seemingly minor incident may send an already stressed person “over the edge.”  In contrast, the person who is living a balanced and healthy life: physically fit, socially supported, spiritually-grounded, genuinely happy is far more resilient and will likely return to “normal” faster.
  3. Expectancy.  We continuously say that at the crux of every crisis is “expectancy.”  No living creature likes to be startled and caught off-guard.  It scares us – and if the event is intense enough, it puts us in a state of shock.  We like predictability and having a sense of control.  Unexpected critical incidents take predictability and sense of control away from us.  The more unexpected the event, the more the person will be in crisis.  The person will feel loss of control; guilt and/or blame (for not seeing it coming or blaming other for not warning); violation of basic beliefs systems (like trust and safety); and so on.

These are just a few “factors” that influence the stress response and propel a person into crisis.  For more, download this free presentation: “For You or Someone You Care About in Crisis”.

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