Identity Crisis
SESSION 3
SEARCHING: WHO AM I?
Objective:
To know that the formation of identity was one of the most important parts of a person's life.
Are you unsure of your role in life? Do you feel like you don't know the 'real you'? If you answer yes to the previous questions, you may be experiencing an identity crisis. Erik Erikson coined the term identity crisis and believed that it was one of the most important conflicts people face in development.
According to Erikson, an identity crisis is a time of intensive analysis and exploration of different ways of looking at oneself.
Erikson described identity as:
"...a subjective sense as well as an observable quality of personal sameness and continuity, paired with some belief in the sameness and continuity of some shared world image. As a quality of unself-conscious living, this can be gloriously obvious in a young person who has found himself as he has found his communality. In him we see emerge a unique unification of what is irreversibly given--that is, body type and temperament, giftedness and vulnerability, infantile models and acquired ideals--with the open choices provided in available roles, occupational possibilities, values offered, mentors met, friendships made, and first sexual encounters." (Erikson, 1970.)
In Erikson's stages of psychosocial development the emergence of an identity crisis occurs during the teenage years in which people struggle between feelings of identity versus role confusion.
Researchers have found that those who have made a strong commitment to an identity tend to be happier and healthier than those who have not. Those with a status of identity diffusion tend to feel out of place in the world and don't pursue a sense of identity.
In today's rapidly changing world, identity crises are more common today than in Erikson's day. These conflicts are certainly not confined to the teenage years. People tend to experience them at various points throughout life, particularly at points of
SEARCHING: WHO AM I?
Objective:
To know that the formation of identity was one of the most important parts of a person's life.
Are you unsure of your role in life? Do you feel like you don't know the 'real you'? If you answer yes to the previous questions, you may be experiencing an identity crisis. Erik Erikson coined the term identity crisis and believed that it was one of the most important conflicts people face in development.
According to Erikson, an identity crisis is a time of intensive analysis and exploration of different ways of looking at oneself.
Erikson described identity as:
"...a subjective sense as well as an observable quality of personal sameness and continuity, paired with some belief in the sameness and continuity of some shared world image. As a quality of unself-conscious living, this can be gloriously obvious in a young person who has found himself as he has found his communality. In him we see emerge a unique unification of what is irreversibly given--that is, body type and temperament, giftedness and vulnerability, infantile models and acquired ideals--with the open choices provided in available roles, occupational possibilities, values offered, mentors met, friendships made, and first sexual encounters." (Erikson, 1970.)
In Erikson's stages of psychosocial development the emergence of an identity crisis occurs during the teenage years in which people struggle between feelings of identity versus role confusion.
Researchers have found that those who have made a strong commitment to an identity tend to be happier and healthier than those who have not. Those with a status of identity diffusion tend to feel out of place in the world and don't pursue a sense of identity.
In today's rapidly changing world, identity crises are more common today than in Erikson's day. These conflicts are certainly not confined to the teenage years. People tend to experience them at various points throughout life, particularly at points of