Crisis Intervention Mid-term Exam
A classification scheme does the following:
1. Facilitates effective planning and preparation by guiding the anticipated need, commitment, and positioning of resources. 2. Provides a conceptual framework within which crisis can be understood and studied in relative terms, such as we do with hurricanes. 3. Guides the development of public policy and protocols, and may serve as a funding guide.
The five steps of crisis intervention
1. Response- the initial response of those tasked with confronting and evaluating the crisis 2. Containment- actions taken to prevent the crisis from worsening or spreading to other systems 3. De-escalation- actions taken to bring the crisis to an end in order to return systems impacted to a state of equillibrium 4. Remediation- actions taken to alliviate the negative residual effects of the crisis 5. Prevention- actions taken to prevent the crisis from occurring again in the future
Mesocrisis
A crisis involving multiple systems within a confined area that runs the risk of spreading unless contained. May require significant resources. Ex: a school shooting
Exocrisis
A crisis involving multiple systems within a particular region, including the potential to impact systems far removed from the actual crisis. Containment is critical to avoid further spreading. Ex: LA riots of 1990
Microcrisis
A crisis that at its outset is limited to a single individual or family and their immediate environment. There is little chance for such a crisis to spread to other systems. Ex: domestic dispute
Locus of Control (Rotter 1954, 1990)
A person can have either an INTERNAL or EXTERNAL locus of control. Those with an internal orientation believe they are in control of their own destiny, regardless of the circumstances. Those with an external orientation believe their fate is determined by external forces, and that they have little control over their circumstances. Self-efficacy is the belief one has in their ability to achieve a successful outcome. High self-efficacy leads to a high level of confidence.
Contagious shooting
A phenomenon in which police officers tend to fire their weapons in response to another officer firing first, and without determining if their use of force is even necessary. A survey of L.A. County police shootings revealed the following: • Shots fired per officer with only 1 officer involved 3.59 • Shots fired per officer with 2 officers involved 4.98 • Shots fired per officer with more than 2 officers involved 6.48 One theory suggests that our brains signal a prediction error when our planned behavior is in conflict with the group's, thus compelling us to change our behavior (Klucharev, 2009). This happens automatically while in experiential-thinking mode.
The parallel transaction
Both parties clearly understand the words and intentions of the other. They are effectively communicating, though the substance of the communication is not always best for the given situation. It can be said that they are "on the same wavelength." Even a verbal confrontation, though not desirable, can be parallel when both combatants clearly understand each other.
General Adaptation Syndrome (Dr. Hans Selye, 1956)
Canadian endocrinologist who proposed a three-stage model of the stress response ALARM STAGE - The fight or flight response is activated by the brain with the introduction of the stressor. This response prepares the individual to confront the stressor. RESISTANCE STAGE - The initial surge of energy is now gone, and the body attempts to adapt to the continuing presence of the stressor. EXHAUSTION STAGE - The body's attempt to adapt begins to have a negative effect. Energy is depleted. Extreme exhaustion may lead to tonic immobility, or the FREEZE response.
How is cognition effected by strees?
Cognition is how we think and process information. People have two distinct cognitive modes: Rational-thinking mode: This is how we normally think as we go about our day. We take in new information, process it, and make sense of it. Experiential-thinking mode: The automatic, rapid thinking we shift to when we don't have the time needed to analyze a situation before we act. Police and correctional officers often shift into Experiential-thinking mode in a stressful situation demanding immediate action. This is often the case in situations where deadly force is used. In this cognitive mode, perception is often distorted. In Experiential-thinking mode, our brains attempt to quickly fill in the gaps to make sense of what is happening since we do not have the benefit of our rational thinking. This "filling-in-the-gap" is based on our experience and happens below the level of conscious awareness. This is why an officer sees a gun in a suspect's hand when there is no gun present. Given the officer's experience, in the stress of the moment they see what they expect and anticipate rather than what they actually observe. Their perception has been distorted by their experience. The benefit of frequent and realistic training in law enforcement and corrections is that it reduces the level of stress the officer experiences in a real situation, and with less stress there is less cognitive distortion when they shift into experiential-thinking mode.
Parent Ego State
Developed during childhood as we internalize parental norms and expectations. • These norms and expectations influence us both consciously and unconsciously. • Simply put, when responding from our PARENT, we tend to respond in ways similar to how our parents responded to us. • We may respond from either our CRITICAL PARENT or our NURTURING PARENT. • CRITICAL PARENT demands, directs, orders, and seeks compliance. • NURTURING PARENT demonstrates compassion, fairness, and honesty. FOUR FUNCTIONAL MODES (PARENT) • Positive Nurturing Parent (Caring) Officer: "I'm going to give you a ticket for speeding because I want you to learn from this. I don't want to see you in a bad accident someday." • Positive Critical parent (Authoritative) Officer: "I'm giving you a ticket just like I give everyone else. It's against the law to speed, and I'm here to enforce the law. • Negative Nurturing Parent (Needy) Officer: "I'll let you go this time with a warning. I was a kid once. You should tell your friends what a good guy I am." • Negative Critical Parent (Oppositional) Officer: "If you want to race cars, go to the racetrack! You're not going to act stupid like this in my town!
Child Ego State
Developed during childhood through interactions with our parents. • Includes our feelings and felt emotions. • People in crisis tend to respond from their CHILD ego state, as do intoxicated people. • We may respond from either our NATURAL CHILD or our ADAPTED CHILD. • NATURAL CHILD is the raw emotional part of our personality. Spontaneous, selfish, and with little concern for others. It is how we naturally acted as a child, mostly when our parents were not present. • ADAPTED CHILD seeks acceptance, and is manipulative to gain it. The adapted child nags, complains, and protests to get its way. Includes the strategies we learned as children to deal with our parents. FOUR FUNCTIONAL MODES (CHILD) • Positive Adapted Child (Acceptance-seeking) Officer: "I'm not here to cause problems for anyone. We all have to live in this town together. Just slow it down please. I'll let you go with a warning." • Positive Natural Child (Fun-loving) Officer: "Hey man, I love your car! In fact, I love it so much I'm going to give you a break!" • Negative Adapted Child (Manipulative) Officer: "I don't see a phone number here on your driver's license. Maybe if you give it to me we can work something out later to avoid a ticket." • Negative Natural Child (Aggressive) Officer: "You just ruined a perfectly good nap there hotrod! You're definitely getting a ticket!"
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Established by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 Allowed for the merger of many of the nearly 100 federal agencies involved in crisis response. This new agency placed much emphasis not only on response, containment, and de-escalation, but also on remediation and prevention (preparedness).
The American Red Cross
Established in 1881 by Clara Barton to respond to disaster, war, and public disorder. Primary goal was remediation - alleviating the suffering of the victims of crisis by providing food, clothing, shelter, and medical care. Responded to their first disaster in 1881 by assisting relief efforts for victims of a deadly Michigan forest fire. In 1896 began their international mission in Constantinople, bringing relief to Armenian victims of Turkish oppression. Responsible for moving crisis intervention into the domain of volunteerism.
Sir Robert Peel- the birth of modern policing 1829
Established the first modern police department, the London Metropolitan Police Dept., to respond to crime and disorder without resorting to military force. The use of routine patrol to proactively address the problem of crime and victimization. One of the first preventative measures in the history of crisis intervention. This model led to the establishment of police departments in Boston (1838), New York City (1844), and Philadelphia (1854). Crisis intervention had now moved from the responsibility of the military to civilian authorities.
Building Rapport
In order to contain and de-escalate a person in crisis, the officer must establish rapport with the individual. This accomplished through a series of techniques we refer to as ACTIVE LISTENING techniques. • Minimal Encouragements: Short verbal replies that demonstrate the officer's concern for what the person in crisis is saying. "I understand"... "I see." • Paraphrasing: Repeating the person's words back to them to demonstrate that they are listening and that they understand. • Emotion-labeling: Paraphrasing what the person has said by attaching a label to the emotion, such as "it sounds as though the fight with your wife made you very angry." This demonstrates to the person that officer understands not only what they are saying, but also feeling. • Open-ended questions: Invites the person to talk. The more they talk, the more likely the officer will be able to de-escalate the crisis. • "I" messages: This will personalize the officer and facilitate a connection. • Effective pauses: Silence is uncomfortable, and may cause the person to keep talking. May also diffuse a confrontational exchange.
Thus the following....
Internal locus + Self-efficacy = Control Experience + Training = Predictability Control + Predictability = Reduced levels of stress
What does it all mean?- Mediating Stress
It is important that those agencies tasked with crisis response focus their hiring and recruiting efforts on individuals who demonstrate an INTERNAL orientation. Repetitive and realistic training is critical to increasing a sense of control and predictability in those who respond to crisis.
The Force Continuum
Level one: Verbal commands The officer attempts to gain compliance simply through verbal commands 2. Level two: threat of Force The officer gains compliance by threatening the use of physical force or a weapon 3. Level three: Non-lethal Compliance The officer gains control by using non-disabling physical techniques and weapons 4. Level four: Disabling techniques The officer gains control through the use of techniques and weapons designed physically incapacitate the individual and render them incapable of resisting 5. Level five: Deadly force The officer gains control of the situation by killing the suspect, or by taking an action that could reasonably be expected to result in death
The crisis transaction
People in crisis tend to respond from either their negative natural or adapted child. They are almost always highly emotional, irrational, and unpredictable. • There are two predominant goals of crisis communication; first, to maintain a parallel transaction; and second, to HOOK the person into an adult-adult parallel transaction. • Hooking is a communication device that is intended to manipulate the person into communicating from a rational, non-emotional, and non-confrontational mode.
The role of perception
Perception: The process by which we interpret and understand stimuli in our sensory field. It is highly effected by emotion. In a survey of 157 officers involved duty-related shootings... 62% reported viewing the incident in slow motion 84% reported that the sounds around them were subdued 79% reported tunnel vision 74% reported responding to the incident in "automatic pilot" These perceptual distortions demonstrate the effects of stress on perception.
Tennessee vs. Garner: The Fleeing Felon Rule
Prior to 1984, police officers were allowed to use force either to protect themselves or others, or to stop the escape of a felon. This provided officers discretionary control over the act of killing, since there was no requirement that officers actually use deadly force against a fleeing felon. MARK V. BART The acronym used to instruct officers on which felons they could use deadly force against if they attempted to flee. Murder Arson Robbery Kidnapping Vehicular theft Burglary Aggravated assault Rape Treason On October 3, 1974, two Memphis patrolmen were dispatched to a possible burglary in progress. When they reached the rear of the house they spotted 15-year-old Edward Garner running across the yard. He was ordered by the officers to stop, but refused and began climbing a fence. One of the officers fired, striking Garner in the head and killing him. The officers were cleared of any wrongdoing since the shooting was allowed under Tennessee law. In 1985 the U.S. Supreme Court heard the case of Tennessee v. Garner (471 U.S. 1). The Court's decision struck down the fleeing felon rule. Since the Court's decision in Garner, officers are now allowed to use only the amount of force that is reasonable and necessary under the circumstances. Deadly force by an officer is no longer allowed except to confront a like amount of force in an effort to save themselves or others from imminent harm. EX: During a civil disorder, rioters are throwing rocks at officers. Deadly force is likely NOT justified, since the officers have the ability to move to a safer location. Also, it would be difficult to argue that rocks represent deadly force on the part of the rioters. EX: During the same civil disorder, a rioter is preparing to throw a Molotov cocktail at a group of officers. Deadly force IS likely justified, since the Molotov cocktail could potentially bring significant harm or even death to an officer.
Transactional Model of Stress (cox and Mckay 1976)
Proposed a psychological model of the stress in which the amount of stress experienced varies as a result of the individual's perception of the demand the stressor places on them and the extent to which they believe they can cope with that demand. Physical and psychological changes that take place with the introduction of the stressor increase the person's performance level and their ability to effectively confront the stressor. With the continued presence of the stressor, the person may begin to lose confidence in their ability to mediate the stressor. At that point they have reached the LEVEL OF OPTIMAL PERFORMANCE. The psychological and physiological changes that have taken place will now have a negative effect and decrease the person's ability to mediate the stressor.
The physical response to stress
The AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM controls the body's response to stress. It effects: ● Heart rate ● Oxygen intake ● Digestion ● Size of pupils ● Perspiration ● Salivation The ANS stimulates bodily functions in some situations, and suppresses them in others. It does this through the influence of two subsystems: SYMPATHETIC NERVOUS SYSTEM PARASYMPATHETIC NERVOUS SYSTEM
The role of race in the use of force
The Bureau of Justice Statistics (2001) reports that in 1978, before the Garner decision, the rate at which police officers justifiably killed African-Americans was 8 times that of whites. In 1998, long after the Garner decision, the rate was still 4 times that of whites. Geller and Scott (1992) point out the following: • Chicago police officers shot at Blacks 3.8 times more than at whites during the 1970s. • NYPD officers shot at Blacks 6 times more than whites during the 1970s • Dallas officers shot at Blacks 4.5 times more than at whites during the 1970s and 1980s • St. Louis police officers shot at Blacks 7.7 times more than at whites from 1987 to 1991 • Memphis police officers fatally shot at Blacks 5.1 times more than at whites from 1969 to 1974. Why are more Blacks shot at than Whites? Payne (2001) looked at the possibility that officers may misperceive the presence of a gun more often with Black suspects. The results of his study supported this hypothesis. When we are operating from our experiential-thinking mode, our perception is influenced by our stereotypical associations. Payne suggested that because officers associate Blacks with violence and crime, they more often misperceive the presence of a gun in the hands of black suspects.
The crisis-stress dynamic
The Human brain has evolved over time to facilitate a state of psychological and physiological equilibrium, or HOMEOSTASIS. Any threat to this balance can be described as a STRESSOR. Essentially every crisis brings with it some amount of stress to the persons involved. When homeostasis is lost, the resulting physiological and/or psychological DISEQUILIBRIUM initiates a series of reactions designed to adapt to the stressor and return to a state of homeostasis.
Mediating Stress
The amount of stress we experience in a given situation is mediated by our perception of how prepared we are to effectively confront it. Sapolsky (2004) has argued that the amount of stress experienced is determined by two psychological factors: Control and Predictability
The Whiskey Rebellion of 1794
The beginning of crisis intervention in America. President George Washington mobilized a force of 13,000 militia to quell an uprising in western Pennsylvania by farmers upset with newly imposed whiskey tariffs. The episode marked the first use of the Militia Law of 1792, which gave the federal government the right to suppress insurrections with federalized troops, and the first use of military force to contain and de-escalate a major crisis. Washington's intervention brought a quick and peaceful end to the crisis.
Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Model
The impact of external systems moves inward to effect the development of the child. In similar fashion, the impact of crisis, unless contained, can move outward from the point of crisis to effect many other interconnected systems. Thus, containment becomes one of the primary goals of those who respond to crisis.
Adult Ego State
The rational problem-solving component of our personality. • The message of this ego state is "only the facts please." • When an officer maintains a professional demeanor they are responding from their adult ego state. They respond without emotion. • Responding from the adult ego state is an important factor in containing and de-escalating crisis.
HYPOTHALAMUS-PITUITARY-ADRENAL AXIS (HPA Axis)
The system responsible for activating the sympathetic nervous system in response to stress. This chain reaction of events begins when the stressor is introduced into the sensory experience of the individual. Once perceived as such, then the HYPOTHALAMUS, the interface between the nervous system and endocrine system, initiates the fight-or-flight response. Once the fight-or-flight response is activated, if the body is not returned in short order to a homeostatic state through the influence of the PARASYMPATHETIC NERVOUS SYSTEM, such as in times of extreme and prolonged stress, then the person can become overwhelmed both physically and psychologically by the body's efforts to adapt to the stressor. In this case, tonic immobility, or the FREEZE response is a possibility.
The crossed transaction
This occurs when two people are no longer effectively communicating, either with good or bad intentions. It can be said that they have their "wires crossed." In this case, the transaction is not predictable because one of the participants is communicating from an ego state other than the one to whom the other person is directing their communication.
Parent, Adult, and Child
When We communicate from our PARENT, we are communicating in ways similar to how our parents communicated with us when we were children. This part of our personality is the storehouse for all the rules, imperatives, and values we were taught as children. From the ADULT we communicate on a cognitive level rather than an emotional one. The adult responds to information in a rational and objective way. The CHILD ego state includes all of our emotions and feelings developed and learned during childhood. Communication from this ego state tends to be irrational, emotional, and egocentric. People in crisis tend to communicate from their child ego state.
Offender Behavior Patterns
When we look at the dual dimensions of control and predictability in criminal offenders, we see four distinct RESPONSE MODES emerge. It is critical that criminal justice professionals understand these potential response modes in order to adapt their own response to predictable outcomes. The four potential response modes are: ● Offense Mode- When we describe someone as being in "survival mode," we are really talking about someone responding in OFFENSE MODE. Ex: A criminal offender who has no intention of ever returning to prison, and who is being confronted by police officers with a warrant for his arrest. The situation is highly predictable for the offender, and the fact that he has a gun, and no intention of being taken alive, gives him a high degree of control. He experiences less stress, and is thus able to think clearer. This, along with the initial surge of energy from his fight-or-flight mechanism being activated, makes him a dangerous individual to confront. ● Defense Mode ● Escape Mode ● Panic Mode
Macrocrisis
Whereas an exocrisis is limited a particular region, the Macrocrisis has the potential to spread to systems in other regions, or even around the world, unless contained. Ex: 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina
The phenomenon of a crisis can be defined as
a loss of equilibrium in our internal and/or external systems of control, requiring third-party intervention to regain homeostasis
external systems of control
designed to maintain public order, this would include police and other emergenccy responders, as well as public service and governmental agencies
internal systems of control
include primarily our cognitive and emotional coping mechanisms; these systems are biopsychosocial in nature and specific to an idividual
The sympathetic nervous system
is designed to rapidly produce and deliver energy throughout the body in response to a stressor. It is responsible for the fight-or-flight response. This response creates a significant amount of stress on various physiological systems impacted, and cannot be sustained for prolonged periods without negative consequences.
Containment + deescalation =
lives saved and property protected
Two common themes to all crises...
loss of equilibrium and the need for intervention
The goal of emergency responders
respond, contain, and deescalate
The parasympathetic nervous system
returns the body to a normal homeostatic state once the stressor has passed. It is said to cause the rest-and-digest response.
The Transactional Analysis Communication Model
• Developed by Dr. Eric Berne (1958), a Canadian psychiatrist who studied the communication patterns of his patients. • Referred to verbal and non-verbal exchanges between people as TRANSACTIONS. • People tend to shift between various styles of communication during transactions, depending on their motives. • According to Berne, people communicate from one of three EGO STATES: PARENT • ADULT • CHILD