What is the difference between therapy and crisis intervention?

In a crisis intervention a lot of the rules go out the window. As a therapist if I have a client who’s in crisis, and they’re a danger to themselves or someone else I’m ethically obligated to break confidentiality. Normally everything’s confidential in this case it’s not.

As a therapist generally I don’t guilt or shame people. However, when it comes to someone being immediately suicidal, guilting them is on the table. By guilting you out of it, the shame can make you feel bad for thinking about doing it. I would validate the emotional experience but the goal of guilting or shaming them is to kind of guide them away from that as a solution. I would steer them toward other solutions.

That’s something that’s done in therapy a lot of the time but generally no that’s not normally what therapy is. Crisis interventions are a little bit different. If someone’s in immediate danger we can call an ambulance, or the police have and them taken to a hospital.

Sometimes a 72-hour hold allows for some stability. Like immediately stability so that when they get out a therapist can jump in and target the underlying issues. It is difficult to really target the underlying issues when someone is in crisis mode, and their emotions are so intense. We need help at that point.

So that’s one of the differences between therapy and crisis intervention.

If you want to watch this video visit What are the Differences Between Crisis Intervention Versus Therapy? | Mental Health Matters – YouTube