ABSTRACT
Certain principles to guide intervention by helpers after the act - whether those are to be social workers or others - follow from this evidence. First, the response needs to be rapid: help should be available as soon as the patient has recovered from the physical effects of the overdose, and there should not be lengthy assessment procedures or organisational barriers. Secondly, help should not usually be offered to the individual in isolation, but as a partner in a disturbed relationship or member of a family in conflict: the other parties in the disturbed inter-personal relationship need to be drawn in from the first. The goals for intervention in crisis situations are limited to alleviating the immediate impact of the disruptive life event, and helping those involved to mobilise their resources to cope adaptively with it. Thus the approach can be seen as suitable, on the one hand, for normally well-functioning people faced with an unusual amount of stress.
