The Term Crisis in Academic Language
In the International Encyclopedia of Social Sciences published in 1968, the article describing 'crisis' begins with a sentence like this: “The word crisis in scientific research meaning is a common term.” A continuation of the description mentions that the term crisis is used in many situations which differ from one another and due to this; the term becomes unsuitable in systematic production of knowledge (Robinson, 1968).
In the current edition of the same encyclopedia of 2008, a separate item on 'crisis' cannot be found. In the new edition an item is included in the form of 'economic crises' but a separate item of crisis can hardly be found. This is considered an indication that the term can take place with a collapsed meaning in academic language
The word crisis, especially in the twentieth century, probably due to its stunning connotations is used so often and in a sloppy manner that the variety of usage renders the academic definition of the term impossible. Despite excessive use of the word in the social sciences community, the word crisis is not included in many of the major reference sources related to social sciences. Just as “economic crisis,”,” the use of the word in collapsed circumstances or situations is maintained in academic language.
More of the word crisis is only a reference in the many dictionaries and encyclopedias published in the twenty-first century. One of these,, the new dictionary of the history of ideas, published in 2005 in the article describing 'crisis' it is stated that “the history of the concept of crisis consists of failure in defining the concept coupled with inflation in the use of the word and as a result the concept as an analysis material has become worthless.” At the end of the explanation in the same source still, the most noteworthy use of the word in the twenty-first century is in activist and political rhetoric, and consequently in everyday language too, for each purpose for which the word is used, the emphasis is on its return to a cliché ('Crisis' clause, 2005).
Although the general validity of the term crisis as a concept is not highly esteemed in the jargon of social sciences and humanities, disciplines of psychology and psychiatry have also started having a strong grip on the concept of crisis by using emerging theoretical productions to improve practical strategies. Through the use of psychology and psychiatry the theoretical knowledge accumulated around the word crisis can contribute to the use of this word as a means of functional academic analysis. For this reason, it would be useful to look at the use of the word crisis in the disciplines of psychology and psychiatry briefly.