ABSTRACT
The psychologically alienative character of the crisis experience—in the midst, interestingly, of a rallying of community support for the family—was not without its positive aspect in human terms. The analysis of the crisis experience of families that polio strikes poses a not dissimilar dilemma. From the standpoint of the family, the prelude stage may be said to extend from the time the parents become aware that the child is "sick", or "not feeling well" to the time they apprehend some cue that his indisposition might not be of the "ordinary" kind. The warning stage may be said to begin when the parents perceive some cue suggesting that the child's illness is not simple or ordinary but is perhaps of a more serious nature. The point in the crisis history at which warning cues were perceived varied considerably from family to family. The demoralizing imagery accompanying the diagnosis was very soon counterbalanced by second thoughts of a more optimistic nature.
