Mental Health Crisis Care

A behavioral health crisis is an abrupt loss of coping or behavioral control that threatens the patient or others, disrupts essential functioning, or exceeds available supports. It is a clinical state, not a diagnosis. A patient who is shouting may be experiencing mania or psychosis, but the same behavior can result from hypoglycemia, hypoxia, intoxication, withdrawal, delirium, pain, or fear. The RN therefore begins with immediate safety and an ABC assessment while gathering the story and comparing behavior with baseline. After urgent medical threats are addressed, person-centered verbal de-escalation, targeted treatment, and the least restrictive safe disposition guide care. In the United States, that continuum includes 988, mobile crisis response, and crisis receiving or stabilization facilities.