What does E. Erikson talk about in “Identity: Youth and Crisis”?

Identity is the ability of an individual to realize his own belonging to a particular social role.
The future life of a person, his principles, attitudes, ways of responding to important situations, and natural questions depend on the results of the identity crisis, which is mainly formed during adolescence.

What is an identity crisis?

Adolescence naturally provokes the manifestation of an identity crisis. In adolescence, the foundations of conscious behavior are laid , and certain moral attitudes are formed.

Personality development occurs rapidly, therefore, representatives of this age stage are naturally characterized by personal instability, inconsistency between character and demonstrated behavior.

Development during this period is characterized by dynamism; even the calmest, most balanced teenagers begin to show emotional instability . Boys and girls are characterized by internal imbalance, conflicting feelings, anxiety, and confusion.

During this period, the teenager tends to experience deep psychological stress, which can subsequently develop into deviant behavior or personality disorders, which are later extremely difficult to cope with.

Identity crisis is seen as :

• reaction to the loss of the child’s usual status in society;
• discrepancy between biological data and social capabilities;
• lack of confidence in one’s own abilities, the correctness of the choice made, the formulated answer.

A teenager strives to find his place, decide on the future, and understand how the people around him treat him. A boy or girl cannot answer these questions without focusing on models both inside and outside the family.

Uncertainty and fears can be so strong that a teenager often demonstrates behavioral rituals that help convince himself of the fundamental presence of himself - keeping a diary, often looking in the mirror, feeling himself, etc.

How does the author characterize the period?

The problem of studying identity in its various aspects is one of the main ones in modern psychological science. Erik Erikson viewed identity as the most important developmental task for any person.

The scientist formulated his own theory , highlighting among the characteristic symptoms of an identity crisis:

• constant fear;
• anxiety;
• desire for solitude;
• emotionlessness.

E. Erikson saw the reason for the complex of such neurotic states in changes in the social conditions of the individual’s existence.

The scientist studied socio-psychological mechanisms, as well as methods of identity formation. Having a mature personality means being yourself, being in an environment that corresponds to internal norms, attitudes, and values.

The conditions for building personal identity and overcoming the crisis are:

• identification, integration of significant sociocultural patterns;
• developed reflection of one’s own experiences;
• communication, its indirect meaning;
• understanding, consistency of all personal manifestations;
• selection of new values, goals, readiness, determination to defend them, achieve them.

Thus, the sociocultural essence of identity implies a connection between culture and a person: the cultural context can either promote or hinder the formation of an individual’s identity.

Modern psychiatry

Now dissociative disorders are understood as a whole group of mental disorders, which includes the following pathological conditions:

1. Psychogenic (dissociative) fugue is the loss of personal identity and the emergence of another. The phenomenon is quite rare. It is characteristic of persons with schizoid disorder.
2. Psychogenic amnesia (some memories are inaccessible to consciousness). The most common form. With clear consciousness, memory suddenly disappears, and the person is aware of it. It recovers on its own after some time.
3. Dissociative identity disorder is the most severe form. It can begin in childhood or adolescence, and appears most often in young people, especially women.

In this case, the manifestation of any form of the disease can suddenly stop. This usually happens if the impetus for a dissociative disorder was a traumatic situation.

According to ICD-10, this disease is divided into the following subtypes:

• fugue;
• convulsions;
• amnesia;
• stupor;
• loss of sensory perception;
• movement disorders;
• convulsions;
• obsession and trance.

To separate such conversion disorders from other mental pathologies, there is a special criterion - the presence of integrity in the patient between the following components:

• your feelings;
• memory of one's own history;
• ability to control one’s motor function;
• awareness of oneself as a person.

Such integrity may be broken partially or completely.

The essence of difficulties in adolescents

Identity creates in the subject a feeling of comfortable stability, continuity, unity, and internal stability. The first integral form of identity is formed precisely in adolescence.

This period is characterized by the deepest life crisis. Negative manifestations lead to :

• rapid changes in physical characteristics, active puberty;
• emotional instability, concern about how the teenager looks in the eyes of others;
• the need to find one’s place, a professional calling that meets the acquired skills, knowledge, skills, individual abilities, interests, as well as the requirements of society.

If a boy or girl fails to solve emerging problems, destructive attitudes are formed in the individual, which can be grouped into several complexes.

1. Avoidance of psychological or emotional intimacy, unpreparedness, inability to establish stable interpersonal connections.
2. Inability to make life plans, fear of growing up, unpreparedness for change.
3. Neglect of the implementation of abilities, abilities, skills, inability to mobilize internal resources, direct them to perform priority activities.
4. Refusal of self-determination, professional guidance, choice of negative models for behavior, demonstration of an antisocial strategy of action.

Based on the fact that the results of the teenage crisis determine a person’s future life, it is important to pay special attention to this issue.

Duration and causes

Identity formation is a process of personality transformation for successful adaptation in the future. Trying to avoid negative manifestations, teenagers are in an excessive hurry with self-determination, resign themselves to the awareness of predestination, and find themselves unable to fully reveal their inner potential.

Other boys and girls, on the contrary, stretch out the process for an indefinite period of time. Therefore, the duration of the crisis can vary - from several months to several years.

The success of the resolution, as well as the period of time, varies depending on:

• what level of identity (individual or group) it affects;
• content (status, role, civil, ethnic, professional, etc.);
• the nature of identity inadequacy (negative, lost, unattained, diffuse, virtual, etc.);
• social conditions and life circumstances;
• individual characteristics of a person.

The age crisis occurs at the age of 12-15, when, over a relatively short period of time, sharp and significant psychophysiological changes are observed.

Adolescence is one of the most important , critical periods in a person’s life, significantly influencing further development. This is a difficult, painful transitional state of transition from childhood to adulthood.

What is this period of growing up for?

An identity crisis is necessary for planning your own future life in all its spheres. If a teenager can form an adequate perception of himself and the world around him, any activity will be fully conscious, goal-oriented, and justified.

The teenager will know exactly why and why he is performing this or that action , what needs to be done to win public recognition, and what his life will be like in the future.

Treatment tactics

This process should be carried out by a specialist experienced in treating this disorder. Its task is to develop a set of measures that would alleviate the symptoms of the disease, improve the patient’s well-being, restore the integrity of the patient’s psyche, and consolidate a single identity. It is important that nothing harms the person.

There are no medications that can cure dissociative identity disorder, but it is quite possible to eliminate individual symptoms with their help. So, antidepressants and tranquilizers will help relieve depression, excessive activity or anxiety. But you should be extremely careful with pharmaceuticals - people with this disorder become addicted to such medications very quickly.

The main method of treatment is psychotherapy:

• insight-oriented;
• family;
• group;
• cognitive;
• rational;
• hypnosis.

Any type of psychotherapy has the task of changing the patient’s beliefs, stereotypes and inappropriate thinking. Specialists in the field of behavioral psychology act as trainers of the patient’s consciousness, trying to reproduce all possible traumatic situations and teach the patient to react correctly to them.

Hypnosis makes it possible to bring existing multiple personalities into one and get rid of depressing memories. Such work must be very delicate, like jewelry, since the slightest mistake can seriously harm.

Insight-oriented psychodynamic therapy is the work of a specialist with all the personalities of the patient. The psychiatrist accepts each of them, treats everyone with equal respect and gives no preference to anyone. This process usually lasts more than one year.

It is impossible to completely cure dissociative multiple identity disorder, so it is considered chronic and very severe. The whole point is that each person, in turn, can suffer from his own mental disorder, including dissociative one.

Patients with dissociative flight (fugue) have much better prospects - recovery occurs quite quickly, as in the case of dissociative amnesia. However, the latter can become chronic and then the prognosis is not so rosy.

Causes

An adolescent identity crisis is characterized by feelings of inferiority. Boys and girls learn to evaluate their own abilities and talents, the ability to perform certain actions or perform specific actions, and look for the answer to the question of who they really are.

With the successful resolution of an internal conflict, self-confidence and loyalty to significant people, ideals, and beliefs are formed.

Among the main reasons for the development of an identity crisis:

• a sharp change in social ideals and priorities;
• transition to the stage of a natural teenage crisis;
• need for recognition and prestige.

The main cause of an identity crisis is stress. Psychological shock takes a teenager beyond his comfort zone, so there is a need to control himself and restore internal mental balance.

Symptoms and manifestations

Simple observation and careful self-analysis will allow you to promptly identify symptoms characteristic of an identity crisis.

Among them:

• uncertainty when making decisions, regardless of their degree of importance;
• doubts regarding the choice of place of study, sexual orientation, belonging to one or another community;
• search for the meaning of life;
• indecisiveness, unwillingness to take any action to change an uncomfortable situation;
• fears for one's own future;
• increased anxiety;
• destruction of the usual value system, difficulties in forming a new one.

Symptoms of an identity crisis are especially difficult for vulnerable, sensitive teenagers . They spend a lot of time inactive, constantly fall into despondency and melancholy, stop in intellectual, spiritual and moral development, and prefer isolation.

Often, young men and women suffer from moral or physical exhaustion, become hostages to addictions, break the law, contemplate or commit suicide.

Erikson's stages of personality development

Erikson divided personality development into eight stages, during which the process of ego identity formation unfolds.

1. The first stage - infancy - lasts from birth to 1 year. The basic crisis is the formation of trust or distrust in the outside world. The source of energy here is hope. Alienation provokes temporary confusion.
2. Early childhood stage – from 1 year to 3 years. The basic crisis is the opposition of personal autonomy to doubt and shame. The source of energy is will, and alienation occurs due to distorted self-awareness.
3. Stage 3 to 6 years, or play age. The crisis consists of a conflict between initiative and a sense of guilt. The source of energy at this stage is the ability to formulate goals and objectives. Alienation occurs due to the rigid predetermination of the social role.
4. From 6 to 12 years old, the child is at the school age stage, when failure is opposed to competence. A potential source of energy for the psyche here is confidence, and alienation is provoked by stagnation of activity.
5. Next comes the stage of adolescence, which Erikson ranged from 12 years to 21 years. It is here that the confrontation between identity and role confusion occurs. The crisis is expressed by the question: who am I? The teenager strives for independence and wants to be free from responsibility for his life. Adolescence is the age during which the future professional development of the individual is determined, and attempts are made for the first time to build a romantic relationship.
6. The stage of early maturity lasts from 21 to 25 years. Here, intimate relationships are contrasted with isolation. The question at this age is: am I able to build trusting relationships with others?
7. The stage of middle maturity lasts from 25 to 60 years. It contrasts stagnation in action with productive life. The question that expresses the basic conflict of this age is what does my life mean? What am I going to do with it?
8. The eighth stage is called the late maturity stage. It involves a process that Erikson’s theory of personality development calls ego integration. The question of this period was: did my life have meaning?

How to overcome the negative aspects?

If a teenager is unable to overcome an identity crisis, he experiences the full range of negative emotions and may experience extreme stress and exhibit aggressive reactions. The lack of a constructive way out of this situation entails dire consequences.

To cope with stress, it is important to follow some recommendations .

1. Research your own interests, inclinations, abilities.
2. Finding support.
3. Cultivating determination.

You shouldn’t isolate yourself and wait for everything to resolve itself. It will not happen. The longer the resolution of the intrapersonal conflict is delayed, the harder and longer the crisis will take.

What could complicate the situation?

The course of an identity crisis largely depends on the personal qualities of a teenager, his social environment, and examples from adults. If a boy or girl has opportunities for self-realization and the support of loved ones, then the process of finding oneself and determining the future will not take long.

An unstable environment for the younger generation is characterized by a high increase in general tension, difficulties associated with building harmonious relationships with others, and the destruction of once accepted norms and rules of behavior and attitudes. It is during adolescence that psychological inclinations for further self-determination are formed.