Psychology, the Term Identity Crisis

¶ … psychology, the term identity crisis refers to conflict that a human being encounters when they go through Erik Erickson's eight developmental states of life. According to Erickson, "the identity is a subjective sense as well as an observable quality of personal sameness and continuity..." (Erickson, 1970). Thus, to develop an identity one needs to go through eight stages of development, which will be discussed in detail later in this paper.

According to Erickson, the identity crisis begins during one's adolescence. Further, only individuals who successfully resolve their identity crisis will mature enough to be able to successfully face future challenges that arrive in life. More so, the identity crisis is not a single event. On the other hand, many people undergo multiple identity crisis as they continue to evolve in a rapidly evolving world that produces new social and other demands on an individual. In a sense, this can be best termed generational identity crisis and occurs when a specific generation can no longer identify themselves with the world around them due to changes in the economy, technology and politics.

Identity crisis are often triggered during a period of personality psychosocial development. According to Erickson, all individuals go through eight stages of psychosocial development. Also according to Erickson, it is during the transition from one stage to the next that many people suffer from an identity crisis.

Erickson's stages of psychosocial development span an individual's entire lifetime. Between each stage one experiences a conflict, the successful resolution of which results in such favorable outcomes and trust over mistrust. It is this period of conflict that causes the identity crisis.

The stage most relevant to adolescents is stage five, which last from age twelve to age eighteen. It is during this stage that the most significant changes occur as, according to Erickson, it is during the adolescence stage that one develops their identity. Thus, in developing an identity, one often experiences confusion and difficulty with peer relations and establishing their role among others.

The favorable outcome that results, such as identity during one's adolescence stage, are referred to as virtues. For example, according to Erickson, a specific virtue is acquired after the completion of each stage. These virtues include: hope, will, purpose, competence, fidelity, love, caring and wisdom. It is the virtue of fidelity that is acquired following the adolescence stage of development.

In order to be able to overcome an identity crisis, or to assist another in overcoming an identity crisis, one must begin by looking at finding which of the seven areas of identity difficulty is causing the crisis and then working for a solution from there. If one is suffering an identity crisis caused by a time perspective, one should work on distinguishing immediate and long-term goals and balance working on new opportunities with opportunities you are currently working on in order to take you towards reaching your long-term goals.

If the identity crisis is caused by a lack of self-certainty, one must work to become consistent in their self-image as it pertains to the image one presents to others. A role experimentation identity crisis is resolved by trying out new roles in order to find the role that feels most comfortable to use. An anticipation of achievement identity crisis can be resolved by evaluating one's actual chances of success in their role and adapting their role, or their expectations, accordingly in order to create more achievement and success.

An identity crisis can also be caused by a sexual identity crisis. A sex identity crisis is often best resolved by personally evaluating one's persona, asking whether he or she is comfortable with being male or female and in dealing with others of the other sexes.

When leadership polarization occurs, an identity crisis can follow. This type of identity crisis occurs when one is trying to determine whether or not they are a leader or a follower. However, this role can change depending on the situation as one can be able to become both a leader and a follower. This is one of the most common areas of identity crisis experienced by adolescents. In order to assist them through this form of identity crisis, one should focus on providing opportunities for numerous types of leadership experiences and roles, allowing all individuals who want to at least try to be a leader the opportunity to succeed in at least one activity.