Personality and Mood Disorders Q 83
Situation: An 18-year-old female is sexually attacked while on her way home from work. She was brought to the hospital by her mother. Rape is an example of which type of crisis:
A. Situational
B. Adventitious
C. Developmental
D. Internal
Correct Answer: B. Adventitious
Adventitious crisis is a crisis involving a traumatic event. It is not part of everyday life. An adventitious crisis is a crisis of disaster that is not a part of everyday life. It is unplanned or accidental. Adventitious crisis include natural disasters, national disasters, and crimes of violence. Sexual molestation falls within this classification.
Option A: Situational crisis is from an external source that upsets one’s psychological equilibrium. Situational crisis arises from an external source such as a job loss, divorce, or other loss affecting self-concept or self-esteem. These occur as part of the process of growing and developing through various periods of life. Sometimes a crisis is a predictable part of the life cycle, such as the crisis described in Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development.
Options C & D: These are the same. They are transitional or developmental periods in life. A life crisis in which usual coping mechanisms are inadequate in dealing with stress common to a particular stage in the life cycle or with stress caused by a transition from one stage to another.