On a personal level, I would describe a crisis as anything where I am no longer able to control the situation and help myself, or a situation that has cause so much disruption that I am not able to do anything else because I need to focus fully on that.

On a societal scale, it has definitely been overused because the media is sensationalistic and wants everyone to tune in to learn more. Politicians also often want everyone afraid because frightened people can be controlled easily.

On a societal scale, I would consider something a crisis when it is effecting a large number of people in a negative and life-altering way. Katrina was definitely a crisis because lives were lost, endangered, or and/changed forever. The financial situation is a crisis because many, many people are impacted in significant ways (losing jobs, homes, retirement savings, etc).

Obviously there are going to be degrees of "crisis," just like there are degrees of emergencies. A person breaking their back is an emergency, but a different kind of emergency than an entire town being under water. Not all crises deserve the same amount of attention or concern, but that doesn't necessarily make one a non-crisis.

The word crisis has been used as a political agenda to make that persons point. The Cuban missle crisis, the economic crisis, the Russian crisis, the nuclear attack crisis, etc.. Whatever it takes to get that person noticed or agenda that person wants others to follow.

From literature class, I remember the formal definition of a crisis as being the time at which something--a situation, relationship, negotiation, or whatever reached a point at which it would get dramatically better or worse, that some change was imminent, the direction of which wasn't clear.

Let's see if memory serves me correctly:

cri·sis
   /ˈkraɪsɪs/ Show Spelled krahy-sis Show IPA noun,plural-ses  /-siz/ Show Spelled-seez Show IPA, adjective
–noun
1.a stage in a sequence of events at which the trend of all future events, esp. for better or for worse, is determined; turningpoint.
2.a condition of instability or danger, as in social, economic, political, or international affairs, leading to a decisive change.
3.a dramatic emotional or circumstantial upheaval in a person's life.4.
Medicine/Medical.
a.the point in the course of a serious disease at which a decisive change occurs, leading either to recovery or to death.
b.the change itself.
5.the point in a play or story at which hostile elements are most tensely opposed to each other.
–adjective
6.of, referring to, or for use in dealing with a crisis.

So literature class serves me right in this application. There are other contexts for crises as well--medical, economic, political, etc.

The real crisis is that the media is sensationalizing stories in order to attract more viewers. "Crisis" is just a buzz word, sort of like advertising buzz words, that they use to attract interest.

The lack of honest journalism in the USA is a real crisis to me. It seems like Hollywood these days.

way over used .The media and special interest group always use this word crisis .In fac t I would say that it is a crisis that this word is so over used .I hope this helps.