France Kenneth (2007) defines a crisis as an incident that poses uncontrollable emotional distress in an individual. According to him, a prolonged period of crisis transition may result to vulnerable stress. Various factors such as natural disasters, domestic violence, sexual assaults and rape cases have great association with crisis incidents that take place in diverse societies. Loss of loved ones via death and abuse of drugs also play a significant role in diversifying violence in the society. In this paper, I will outline the various causes of crisis and their effects to the victims. I will also detail on the appropriate strategies that ought to be implemented in intervening crisis.
Workplace violence
Workplace violence is a crucial subject that is often disregarded due to ignorance. Workplace violence can be defined as violence that takes place between employees and their environment (Cooper and Langan, 2011). It is one of the causes of low productivity in organizations. Workplace violence is also associated with spoilage of organizations’ image. Some of the factors that lead to the emergence of workplace violence include demand for promotions, sexual harassments, robbery, threatening emails send by both employees and employers, and use of inappropriate languages by employees and employers. Mushrooming factors such as mental illness, difference in personality and substance abuse also catalyze the expansion of workplace violence.
Mushrooming factors
Emergence of many hazardous factors in organizations has led to many professionals being exposed to violence. For instance, a research that was carried out by American Psychological Association showed that about 50 percent of individuals that worked in clinics reported assault cases. This is also evidenced by the increase in the rate of violence activities in American schools. Some of the precipitating factors that lead to disagreement among employees and students include abuse of drugs, deinstitutionalization, mental illness, difference in gender, emergence of gangs, and increase in individuals’ age.
Most violence cases in many societies have close association with the abuse of drugs. Probably this is due to the rapid growth in the rate of substance abusers. The excessive usage of drugs has been associated with the aggressiveness of individuals. It is also evident that overuse of drugs leads to mental disorders. In many occasions, drug addicts tend to be adamant and uncontrollable. Additionally, many addict clients have the habiting of challenging employees by being so inquisitive. According to France (2007), it is also evident that most differences between clients and employees are fueled by inappropriate talks by nagging clients. Excessive abuse of drugs also affects employees. In most occasions it leads to disagreements between employees that may result into a fatal crisis.
The movement of mentally ill individuals from health institutions and then closing up those institutions contributes immensely to the increase in the number of mental illness violence. Frequently, individuals who are discharged from psychiatric hospitals do not receive medication and rehabilitation services. The closing of psychiatric beds also leads to the increase of mentally ill individuals; most of the people that later suffer from mental illness lack psychiatric attention. Additionally, deinstitutionalization leads to not only loss of useful facilities for attending mentally ill people, but also reduction of the number of staff personnel. Deinstitutionalization has also been associated with the reduction of follow-up care on mentally ill patients.
From research carried out by Gilliland et al (2012), it is evident that most mentally ill people end up being violent. According to them, various factors such as creation of sensations, delusions, and imaginations may result to mental illness. Some violence cases are also associated with internal damage or illness of the brain. Most of the people that suffer from brain disorders as a result of injuries or diseases tend not to think critically. It is also evident that mental disorders may lead to personality complications. Most of the people that suffer from personality complications tend not to manage their emotions appropriately. Such individuals end up in uncouth acts such as over driving, committing suicides, and involvement in physical confrontations.
Men have been associated for long with violent activities such as robbery and wars. However, from research carried it is evident that women are also so aggressive compared to men. In many organizations, both women and men have been found to have equal opportunities in violence. Just as men, women also assault staff members.
Institutional staff culpability
The failing of many organizations in terms of production is also associated with culpable behavior of employees. In most cases, most employees refuse to perform their duties thus resulting to emergence of crisis. For instance, in most organizations that are not managed well employees tend to disregard the safety of their co-workers. Additionally, some employees willingly avoid following instructions in order to cause chaos. The awful conduct of employees is often governed by their personality; most of incompetent are not only lazy, but also antisocial.
Dynamic of violence in human services settings
Dynamic of violence in human services environment is to vast. It involves the clients, staff members and the institution in which these individuals convey. In most occasions clients end up in crisis with the employees due to misunderstanding that arise as a result of ignorance of background settings of both parties.
Crisis intervention strategies
It is crucial for an individual to make accurate consideration on matters pertaining to a crisis. This will aid psychiatrist respond appropriately to it because it provides a guideline on how a crisis should be intervened. Despite of the similarity of events, most people tend to have unique behaviors. Thus, it is appropriate for an individual to avoid over generalization in making decisions. It is also evident that most people involved in a crisis lack appropriate options in solving their problems. Thus, it is crucial for a respondent to have the quality of thinking quickly and creatively. In solving a crisis, the therapist opts also to be calm and neutral. In doing so, a therapist will manage to contain his or her clients and also provide them with amicable guidelines on how to solve their differences.
Follow up with victims
Clients and employees are the victims of violence that takes place in institutions. However, employees are key victims of violence. This is because their job is too involving and tedious. Additionally, their job involves copying up with the characters of individuals from different backgrounds. The act of dealing with clients of with different types of personality also poses great challenge to employees. Despite of all these, few people do take into consideration the demands of the employees. For instance, majority of the employers disregard the views of employees regarding their rights.
In conclusion, various factors such as natural disasters, sexual assaults and domestic violence have been associated with the rise of crisis in diverse societies. In addition, inappropriate talks between employees and clients also contribute immensely towards advancement of violence in organizations. Unfortunately, violence leads to low productivity in organizations. Thus it is crucial for amicable strategies to be observed in crisis intervention.
References
Cooper, C & Langan, J. (2011). Handbook of Stress in the Occupations. New York: Edward Elgar Publishing.
France, K. (2007). Crisis Intervention: A Handbook of Immediate Person-to-Person Help. New York: Charles C Thomas Publisher.
Gilliland, B et al. (2012). Crisis Intervention Strategies, 7th Ed. New York: Cengage Learning.
