Think of crisis as an opportunity with danger. An opportunity in the sense that you can grow from the experience and danger in the sense that things will be crazy for a while. Reuben Hill came up with a model to explain stress and crisis - the ABCX model.
A - the Actual event
B - Both resources & responses
+ C - Cognitions (What you think)
X - The total eXperience
Crises can be different for different people and families. A lost job may be a mere set back to one family while it is considered the end of the world to another family. We all see and cope with crisis in different ways. It's important to remember that it's the structure (your response to the stresser) not the stresser that is destructive. This is because crises necessitate change. Nothing will change unless you change it. Let me explain. You may think that the stresser event caused your feelings, but really it's your thoughts that cause your feelings and resulting actions because actions are consistent with thoughts and feelings. This is because when crisis strikes our brain goes crazy analyzing it to death. Therefore, if you think negatively about the stresser event your feelings and actions will be negative, but be if you think positively about the stresser event your feelings and actions will be positive. The power of thought is amazing! When you change your thoughts it changes your feelings and actions. We have a choice to react to the stresser or to respond. Here's a model to clearly show what how our thoughts influence us.
The trick to dealing with a crisis is to observe and describe reality in a non-judgmental way. Other effective ways to cope with crisis is to take responsibility (don't play the victim game), affirm your own and your family's worth, balance self-concern with other-concern, learn the art of reframing (paradigm shift), and find and use available resources. If you cope with crisis effectively you might just come out better than before the crisis.
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