IN SUMMARY

To say that an individual is in a crisis state, we must first be aware of a conflict between the individual and his total situation.  Next, we must judge the conflict to hold high now potential.  Finally, we must judge the conflict to have a low self-resolution factor.  If these conditions are met, we have a crisis requiring our intervention.  To conceptualize, a crisis state exists when a conflict holds immediate potential for significant deterioration in the person or in the situation, combined with a low probability of either the person or other individuals in the interaction being able to resolve the conflict.