The patient-therapist relationship in crisis intervention

A crisis situation, because it engenders feelings of helplessness, promotes regression in the patient and thus makes the patient susceptible to the rapid formation of an intense positive relationship between himself and the therapist. While this type of patient-therapist relationship is useful for the treatment, it requires constant monitoring on the part of the therapist lest dependency and regression be furthered. Cases are presented which illustrate some of the problems that may be encountered as a result of the patient's feelings about the therapist, and techniques for avoiding these problems are discussed.