Emotional Labeling

Emotional labeling of the loss as real or perceived is a key component of most crises. The loss may be of an object (home, auto), a person (through death or divorce), or it may be the loss of self esteem, power, freedom or prestige. Whatever the loss the resulting grief is the same. Helping a person in crisis to identify and accept their feelings as normal reactions to stress is very helpful. This can be done by using statements such as “You sound...”, “You seem…”, or “I hear…”. Review the video showing this technique.

Click on the play button to view the video.