Recognizing a Mental Health Crisis

What is a Mental Health Crisis?

A mental health crisis means that a person’s feelings or problems are so strong that they cannot do what they need to do that day. A mental health crisis may also mean that the person is at risk of hurting themselves or others.

Signs of a Mental Health Crisis:

These are some common signs that you or someone else
may be having a mental health crisis:

• • Not able to do daily activities like bathing, brushing teeth, or changing clothes
  • Changes in mood, increased energy level, or restless
  • Suddenly sad, withdrawn, not wanting to be around other people
  • Angry, verbal threats, violent, destroy property
  • Using drugs or other substances, self-harm like cutting, abusive behavior
  • Not able to recognize family or friends, confused, strange ideas, thinks they are someone they are not, hearing voices, seeing things that are not there

How Long Does a Mental Health Crisis Last?

• • Sometimes a crisis will only last a few minutes.
  • Sometimes a crisis can last for days or months.
  • It depends on how quickly the person is able to get help and the type of coping skills they have.
  • If a person is able to widen their resilient or “OK” zone they may be able to recover from a mental health crisis more quickly.