Presents a systemic orientation to the treatment of crisis reactions in college students. Crisis reactions are explained as an expression of the dilemma of feeling the need to both achieve for, and remain overinvolved with, the family system. It is proposed that this dilemma occurs in the context of enmeshed systems in which unfulfilled aspirations from prior generations are transmitted to the student in crisis. Based on this conceptualization, a treatment approach is provided. 23 ref.