Introduction
One of the dominant concepts in the field of psychology is how humans grow and develop throughout the course of their lifetime. Many theories have been put forward in order to explain the various stages that a human being experiences while growing up. One of the most popular among these theories is the one formulated by Erik Erikson, more commonly known as the psychosocial stages of human development as opposed to Freud’s psychosexual ones (Boeree, 2009). According to Erikson, there are stages that occur within one’s lifetime, and one progresses from one stage to another as the ego overcomes the crisis related to a current stage and subsequently develops as a result of it. He further adds that each stage is epigenetic—they follow an implicit order and each stage is built upon by the stages that precede it. Erikson theorized eight stages, each having conflicting concepts and will teach the ego values depending on what concept prevails in that stage (Davis & Clifton, 1995).
Many journals and articles have been published that are pertinent to Erikson’s stages of human development. One of these will be reviewed and how they relate to a spiritual level will be discussed.
Psychosocial Human Development: Journal Review
Vogel-Scibilia, McNulty, Baxter, Miller, Dine, and Frese III in 2009 have formulated a recovery process for people with mental illnesses which was patterned from Erikson’s stages of development. The subjects of this journal were people who have serious mental illnesses, and all felt that a recovery process was needed in order to be more functional with regards to the sense of self and its role in the society. The stage one of the recovery process, they formulated is based on trust versus doubt, as opposed to Erikson’s trust versus distrust. The next stages are: hope versus shame, empowerment versus guilt, action versus inaction, new self versus sick self, intimacy versus isolation, purposes versus passivity, and integrity versus despair. These stages are parallel to Erikson’s stages which are: autonomy vs. self-doubt, initiative versus guilt, industry versus inferiority, identity versus identity diffusion, intimacy versus isolation, generativity versus stagnation, and integrity versus despair respectively. The authors added that comparing the recovery process to Erikson’s developmental stages gives psychiatrists a strategy that can be used in the recovery of patients suffering from mental illnesses.
One of the strengths of this article is that it presents a new way in which the psychosocial development can be applied in psychology other than analyzing the stages of human development; it shows that the concept can be applied to other stages as well. Furthermore, it highlights the weaknesses of the human development concept and sees to it that it does not apply in the recovery stages as well. However, one if its flaws is that like the psychosocial development, it presents no clear-cut distinction from one stage to the next and because of this, a stage wherein a recovering patient can be classified cannot be easily identified.
When applied in a spiritual setting, the journal makes the reader see to it that there is more to the recovery process of an illness other than mere clinical techniques and prescriptions. In order to make a full recovery, particularly in mental illnesses, one must also understand the metaphysical concepts going on in the brain rather than the psychosomatic aspects involved. In other words, faith in the path to recovery is crucial for a patient to become normal once again.
References
Boeree, C. G. (2009). General Psychology: Erik Erikson. Retrieved from http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/genpsyerikson.html
Davis, D. & A. Clifton (1995). Psychosocial Theory: Erikson. Retrieved from http://ww3.haverford.edu/psychology/ddavis/p109g/erikson.stages.html
Vogel-Scibilia, S. E., Mcnulty, K. C., Baxter, B., Miller, S., Dine, M., & Frese, F. J. (2009). The Recovery Process Utilizing Erikson’s Stages of Human Development. Community Mental Health Journal, 45(6), 405-414. doi: 10.1007/s10597-009-9189-4
