Free Personality And Development Theories Case Study Sample

James can better understand his personality through Freud’s and Erikson’s theories. The basic conflict of Erikson’s fourth psychosocial stage is industry vs. inferiority which occurs at age 6 to age 11. Feelings of competence are developed when the child is able to succeed in his academic demands. Since James did not do well in school he developed feelings of inferiority.
According to Freud childhood experiences and the motives and conflicts of our unconscious contribute to our personality. Personality is developed from our attempts to resolve conflicts between our unconscious aggressive impulses and what is demanded of us by reality. His parents always saw him as lazy and would often blame him for doing poorly in school as he did not try hard enough. Such experiences caused aggressive feelings which were likely repressed which causes anxiety.
John is a 28 year old male who has constantly been and out of rehab for drug addiction. He is the only child and his family is the second family of his father. His family originally lived in Australia and was well-off. His parents then decide to move to the Philippines and setup a business which eventually failed. He studied in an international school where he got good grades and was even that captain of the soccer team. Due to financial problems he transferred to a local private school for boys. There he was often made fun of for his Australian accent and because his last name sounded gay. His grades started dropping and he would come home angry at his parents. He was then transferred to another international school where he hung out with the “cool” crowd. He did well in his studies but started doing drugs to reclaim the “cool” title he had when he was team captain. His parents were too busy fighting with each other about everything to notice that John needed help.
Although the family business failed, John’s parents were able to provide his physiological and safety needs. His belongingness and love needs were not met as his parents were too busy fighting to pay attention to him. Moreover, he originally had a sense of belongingness in his first school but this was taken from him when he transferred schools. He tried to meet this need later on in his new school by being “cool” and taking drugs. Because his belongingness and love needs have not been met, his esteem and self-actualization needs have also not been met.
According to Adler, only child individuals tend to have feelings of superiority and an inflated sense of self. They are also used to a pampered style of life. John initially had these as he did well in school and was even the soccer team captain. However, since these were taken away when he transferred schools, he tried to again gain a sense of belonging. He was motivated by social interest which is in line with Adler’s theory. He was bullied and made fun of and his need to belong was not met. When he transferred schools again, he was even more motivated to regain his feelings of superiority and meet his need to belong. He hung out with the “cool” group and followed them into a life of drugs.