Erik Erikson is considered as an ego psychologist and a person responsible for developing the most popular as well as influential theories of development (McLeod, 2018). Apparently, he is famously known for coming up with the identity crisis through his eight stages of development in human being life. According to Erikson, personality develops through different stages in an individual’s lifespan (McLeod, 2018). He was much interested in understanding how social interaction impacted the overall development and growth of an individual. No matter who we are, I believe every individual has gone through various stages in their lives that define who they are.
Some of the development stages that Erikson came up with included Trust versus Mistrust where an individual is torn between trusting people in the society or rather not trusting them at all based on the upbringing. The second stage is Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt where a child starts to develop a greater sense of personal control (McLeod, 2018). The third stage is Initiative versus Guilt where a child starts to assert their sense of power and a child who succeeds in this step may rule over the others (Kroger, 2015). Industry versus Inferiority is the stage where children develop their sense of pride and a child who receives plenty of parental encouragement has more competence in their skills unlike the others (Inkeles, 2017). The fifth stage is Identity versus Confusion where children develop a sense of identity or no identity at all (Newman & Newman, 2017). The other stages are Intimacy versus Isolation, Generality Versus Stagnation, and Integrity versus Despair (Illeris, 2015). However, this paper will focus on the aspect of Identity versus Confusion. The paper will closely highlight how this stage was manifested through my personal experience.
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I have a lot of life experiences that can certainly match with some of the Erikson’s stages of development. However, one particular stage that struck me well was that of Identity versus Confusion. In essence, this is when a particular child goes through the process of self-identity depending on the level of encouragement and reinforcement a child might come out of this stage strong or weak (McLeod, 2018). Apparently, I have passed through different encounters in my life some of which are interesting. It is, however, hard to say that I come from a foster care family and my histories have been capped with rape, molestation, starvation, and depression. Despite the fact that I was very social throughout my entire life, I found difficulties in making friends. I often felt very guilt without knowing the reason why I had that feeling. To start with, I was adopted by the Greens family when I was five years old. I was given another name and I had to abandon the original name that I had been given by my biological parents whom I do not know. All my histories had to be left behind leave alone my siblings whom we had to split because my adopters could not afford taking care of all of us. This situation hit me hard and I could not believe having to separate from my siblings whom I had known and interacted with before. It was certainly one of the most traumatic encounters in my life.
I still remember that last day I saw my little sister while holding her arms and waving goodbye not knowing when to see each other next. At such an early stage of life, I was forced to undergo identity as well as the confusion period. Having been adopted for such a long period meant that I never belong. I never knew where my brothers, as well as my sisters, were. Noteworthy, I underwent a lot of emotional torture given the fact I did not know who my real parents were. While I was trying to find my identity, most of my neighbor’s children used to throw abusing words at me and I was completely unsure of how I was to deal with such a situation. This left me confused and not knowing what to do at such an early age full of misguided thoughts.
Furthermore, my foster parents were very busy working hard to make sure that me I received the best care ever and, therefore, I was left by myself. During weekends we spent time together, however, most part of the weekends they spent with their friends. I found it hard to trust other people since my foster parents never gave me enough of their time yet I was very young. Additionally, I could not identify myself with social peers given the fact that I could not trust anyone. The only social experience that I perhaps felt in touch was at the Cavalier Road Church which I attended at the age of 10 to 19years old. However, due to mistrust issues in my entire life, the only friends I acquired were in church. Apparently, this made me have a limited social life experience and therefore made it hard for me to find my identity. Due to these experiences in my life, I have had delays in life planning as an adult. I do not want to deny my foster parents gratitude for being there for me but I must say I missed advice on how to plan my life at an early stage of life.
In a nutshell, my life may not be such as an interesting story or rather coincides with the Erikson’s development theories but one thing is certain, I experienced an extreme torture while I was a small kid trying to find where I belonged. Being separated from my siblings and not knowing my biological parents hit me hard. Additionally, having foster parents who were career people busy in making both ends meet was heard for me especially when I needed to identify myself with people. This has left a huge mark in my life something that has affected my planning as an adult moving from one job to the other. In this light, it is no doubt that Erickson’s theory and the stage of Identity versus Confusion was a true revelation in my life.
References
Illeris, K. (2015). Transformative Learning. The SAGE Handbook of Learning , 331.
Inkeles, A. (2017). National character: A psycho-social perspective . Routledge.
Kroger, J. (2015). Identity development through adulthood: The move toward “wholeness”. The Oxford handbook of identity development , 65-80.
McLeod, S. (2018). Erikson's Psychosocial Stages of Development. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/Erik-Erikson.html
Newman, B. M., & Newman, P. R. (2017). Development through life: A psychosocial approach . Cengage Learning.
