Lesson One - Resiliency and Community Resources

What is a Crisis?

The American Psychological Association (APA) defines a crisis as “a situation (e.g., a traumatic change) that produces significant cognitive or emotional stress in those involved in it”. This is a fairly broad explanation and can encompass quite a few different scenarios.

There are three main types of crises that a person can experience:

1. Developmental crisis—anything to do with the different stages of life and growing.
2. Situational crisis—sudden and unexpected life events including personal tragedies or natural disasters.
3. Existential crisis—any type of inner conflict a person has that deals with spirituality, the meaning of life, or even the direction one’s life should take; a good example of this would be a midlife crisis.

A crisis can be quite obvious at times, such as losing a loved one. In other cases, mostly with existential crises, an individual might not even realize that they are experiencing an actual crisis even though the changes in mood and behaviour are no less dramatic than with developmental and situational crises.

---