Crisis Intervention Strategies Flashcards

A client experiencing alcohol withdrawal develops tremors, diaphoresis, and reports seeing insects on the wall. This presentation indicates:

Answer: Delirium tremens, a life-threatening emergency requiring immediate medical intervention

Tremors, diaphoresis, and visual hallucinations together are hallmark signs of delirium tremens, which carries a significant mortality risk and requires emergency medical care.

Under the HIPAA Privacy Rule, a counselor may disclose PHI without client authorization in a crisis situation when:

Answer: Disclosure is necessary to prevent serious and imminent threat to the client or others

HIPAA permits disclosure without authorization when needed to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to health or safety, as permitted by law.

A peer recovery specialist finds a client unresponsive with a needle nearby. After calling 911, the next action consistent with Good Samaritan law provisions is to:

Answer: Administer naloxone if available and trained to do so

Good Samaritan laws encourage bystander intervention including naloxone administration, and most state provisions protect those who call 911 and provide first aid from prosecution.

A crisis counselor is conducting a mental status exam with a client who has been awake for three days using methamphetamine. The MOST critical finding to document is:

Answer: Presence of psychotic features such as paranoid delusions or command hallucinations

Stimulant-induced psychosis, particularly command hallucinations instructing harm, creates imminent danger and must be documented and acted upon immediately.

The Tarasoff duty to warn obligates a counselor to take protective action when a client makes:

Answer: A specific, credible threat against an identifiable third party

Tarasoff liability is triggered by a specific, serious threat against an identifiable victim, not vague expressions of frustration or anger.

A client in a residential SUD program discloses she has been self-harming (cutting) to manage cravings and emotional pain. The counselor's INITIAL response should be to:

Answer: Explore the function of the self-harm behavior and assess lethality and wound severity

Understanding why the client is self-harming and assessing wound severity and suicidal intent guides appropriate level-of-care decisions and therapeutic response.

In Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) conducted after a group trauma event in a treatment facility, the 'teaching phase' is primarily designed to:

Answer: Normalize stress reactions and provide psychoeducation about common trauma responses

The teaching phase of CISD normalizes acute stress symptoms and educates participants about expected psychological reactions, reducing stigma and fear.