The Dynamics of Psychosocial Crises
Forschungsbericht 95-1
W. Tschacher
Zusammenfassung
The time courses of 34 psychosocial crises were studied at an in-patient psychiatric
crisis intervention unit. For data acquisition, patients were instructed to rate
their tension, activity and mood in self-report scales three times a day. The onset
of crises before index admission were assessed by retrospective interviews. A combination
of pre-post comparisons and time series analyses was used to evaluate the effectiveness
of crisis intervention and to specify typologies of crises. Although distinct crisis
trajectories were found at the group level which clearly reflect global treatment
effects, there was little indication of specificity using a pre-post design. Consequently,
the use of more fine-grained longitudinal methods is proposed. Time series models
of individual patients (single systems approach) are helpful in designing appropriate
therapeutic strategies. Agglutination of single case models points to distinct crisis
courses, in which a cluster of depressive reactions is prominent. Consequently, a
dynamical systems approach is suggested for application in psychiatry and psychology.
eMail: tschacher@spk.unibe.ch
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