Crisis therapy

Crisis therapy is a short-term treatment in which behavioural, cognitive and counselling techniques are employed to restore effective coping in a patient who has been (or is in danger of being) overwhelmed by events which he does not have the psychological resources - personally or in his social network - to cope with.

This type of psychological treatment aims to enable the individual to overcome the crisis before breakdown or maladaptive solutions occur. The emphasis is on brief, intensive intervention; so that the patient may be seen - along with members of his family - perhaps six times in a three week period before therapy is terminated.