The trilogy definition of crisis is the ABC’s of crisis. It states that there are three distinct parts of the crisis. The first part, A, is the event that happens to the client that brings them anxiety or stress and then overloads them beyond their capacity to cope. One example of this can be if someone has loss from a catastrophic event. I have recently seen persons who lost homes in the fires in northern California and they were stressed out to the maximum of their coping. Another example is the person who has lost their job and cannot pay their bills. In the small county environment in which I live there are many persons who have had this happen and they are pushed to crisis status during these times
Trilogy definition of crisis
Step 2
The second step in the trilogy definition of crisis event is the B, which stands for the perception that the person has of the event. In the person who is overloaded it is a perception that does not help them to cope such as in the case of the person who has lost their home to fire. This person had seen their homes burn. They lost their family pet and could not see the light. They thought that the insurance as not going to pay and they would never be able to rebuild. In that case of the person that had lost their job, they were very concerned that they would also lose their home but because they could not afford it. They just knew that they would get no help from anyone and that they were out in just a few days. It was the end of the line for them and they and their children would starve.
Step 3
The third part trilogy definition of crisis is that of the overload, or C, because of failure of normal coping methods. This happens when in the case of the person who lost their house they were unable to rationally think about their situation. They were normally level headed and could see things clearly normally. In this case the overwhelming stress threw the normal mechanisms out of balance and they were unable to view the event in any rational manner. They were in crisis. In the case of the person who had lost their job they would have normally been able to use the job and some saving as backup in case anything had happened. They now did not have a job and this normal daily routine could no longer be counted upon and the person was unable to function to help in any way, their family to get back on their feet.
The Trilogy definition of crisis is a key of the Service Worker to help them understand how to get the client out of the crisis and back to functioning levels. This is done by understanding the client’s perception of the event and guiding them to change that perception so that they can once again function and grow from the event. This is the most important help to get the client back into non crisis mode.