≤ 3 Autonomy vs shame Self-control
≤ 6 Initiative vs guilt Creativeness≤ 12 Industry vs inferiority Skills and social norms≤ 18 Identity vs role confusion Personality integration
≤ 30 Intimacy vs isolation Love
Adulthood Generativity vs stagnation Family, career
Old age Integrity vs despair Existential identity (one’s life)Erikson’s major concern was with how adolescents in interaction with their
social environment form a coherent perception of self. A crisis occurs when
coherence is not accomplished. Adolescence is a critical stage of identity
forming, but the potential of identity crisis remains in adulthood, too, as
indicated by the opposing inclinations listed under ‘Conflict’ in Table 2.
Individuals suffering an identity crisis are insecure, do not always know where
they belong, and, in extreme cases, are uncertain who or what they are. The
notion ‘identity crisis’ presupposes, as a condition of leading a crisis-free life in
harmony with yourself, a stable identity that comprises a subjective sense of
personal sameness and firmness of beliefs and values. A sound personal identity
consists of bodily constitution and command thereof, mental capacities, family
and wider social relations, and cultural heritage, all woven into one cohesive
thread that persists through time without major breaks.
In the psychological sense, identity does not preclude change, but the changes
that occur with progressing age do not undermine the sense of self. Identity
formation is an ongoing process of adaptation to mutable environmental
conditions. In their teenage years, people experience corporeal, mental, and
social vicissitudes more overtly than earlier and later in life and are therefore
more at risk of identity confusion. Yet identity crisis or personality breakdown
can occur later in life. When your professional career takes a downturn, when
your marriage comes to an end, or when you feel that you have disappointed
others or have not accomplished your purpose in life, self-loathing or depression
may ensue.
Identity crisis is a persuasive notion that brings together the bio-psychological