WHY PERSONAL IDENTITY CONFUSION LEADS TO CAREER CONFUSION

Early in the 20th century Erik Erikson played a key role in articulating a framework for early child development that shed light on the way young children negotiate the early years, sometimes successfully, sometimes unsuccessfully. His theory of development marked a paradigm shift in global perspectives on the construct of personality and showed how personal development is richly intertwined with career development. 

Erikson believed that young children’s development should not be seen only through a psychosexual and mechanistic lens, such as that proposed by Freudian psychoanalysis, and considers instead how early educational and social influences, contribute to people’s personalities throughout their lives, and have major impacts on their ability to find a fulfilling professional life.

He proposed eight stages in human development that all people have to navigate successfully in order to lead integrated, meaningful, and fulfilled personal and professional lives. These stages are:

1. Basic trust VS Mistrust (infancy, 1–2years)

If infants care-related and trust needs are not met adequately, they may become anxious and learn to mistrust others.

2. Autonomy VS Shame and Doubt (early childhood, 2–4 years)

This is the stage during which infants need to achieve an adequate sense of self and personal control over their physical competencies and the process they develop their own will.

3. Initiative VS Guilt (pre-schoolage, 4–5years)

In Stage 3, children should be allowed to complete certain tasks successfully on their own. They need to try things out on their own and explore their own abilities. In so doing, they can develop the determination to achieve goals and gain a sense of direction in their lives.

4. Industry VS Inferiority (school age, 5–12 years)

This is the stage during which children become more competent and more adept in carrying out increasingly complex assignments. In the process, they consciously attempt to acquire new competencies. If they are consistently encouraged and praised by significant others, their chances of acquiring an adequate sense of proficiency and self-belief are increased.

5. Identity VS Role Confusion (adolescence,13–19years)

During Stage 5, children need the continued support and encouragement of significant others to help them achieve an adequate sense of self (who they are) and become more independent of others. To this end, they need to be given the opportunity (under careful guidance) to experience success in increasingly complex tasks.

6. Intimacy VS Isolation (early and emerging adulthood, 20–40 years)

During this stage, emerging adolescents and adolescents increasingly seek intimate relationships that they can establish, maintain, and promote with key people they can trust. They need to establish relationships that allow them to acknowledge their vulnerability.

7. Generativity VS Stagnation (adulthood,40–65years)

This is the stage during which people need to acquire the ability to care for others and not only themselves. If they manage to navigate this stage successfully, and even learn to care about others without needing to feel that their love and care are returned, they typically experience a sense of meaning and purpose in their lives. During this stage, people generally experience a deep need to have children to help them create a living legacy.

8. Ego Integrity VS Despair (maturity, 65+) 

During the final stage of life, people are particularly confronted with the idea of dying and their mortality. Typically, during this stage, people reflect on whether their live have been successful or not.

As mentioned earlier, Erikson regarded identity formation as the most important developmental task in childhood, especially when children move from early childhood to adolescence and from adolescence to early and emerging adulthood. These latter life stages are the stages during which fields of study, careers, and/or jobs are typically chosen. 

Erikson maintained that unresolved developmental challenges in any given stage will negatively influence the overall sense of integration of Self. People will transition from one stage to another consecutively regardless of whether they have managed to deal with the ‘problems’ or challenges experienced during preceding stages effectively or not. However, their unfulfilled developmental stage, will continue to resurface as ‘problems’ in later stages, influencing their sense of life and career fulfillment negatively, irrespective of how financially successful, for instance, they may eventually become.

People who present for career counselling, willingly or unwillingly, inevitably seek answers to the fundamental questions, ‘Who am I?’, ‘Where am I going?’, and ‘What is the purpose of my existence?’. To assist them to answer these questions (in addition to responding to the ‘standard’ question, ‘What are my career choice options?’), I endeavour to help clients uncover their unresolved challenges or the ‘initial pain’ they suffered in their early lives so that they can convert this hurt into hope. 

In summary, the theories of psychosocial development of Erikson, self-construction (Guichard, 2005), and career construction (Savickas, 2019) are interwoven, and so counseling should help enact personal and career-life stories that are founded on a healthy sense of identity.

Wishing you Well,

Your Shrink in Bansko