Core Concepts from TA and Gestalt

In the early 20th-century, interest in the field of child development emerged. Researchers and theorists studied the ways in which children grew, learned, and, in some instances, were shaped by societal influences (Weiland, 1993). The study of child development enables us to appreciate and understand the social, emotional, physical, educational, and cognitive growth that children go through from birth to early adulthood. Grand theories attempt to organize and arrange concepts and aspects of development using a step approach. Such as that of Erik Erikson’s theory, the Psychosocial Identity Development theory, in which he addresses the development of personal, emotional, and social progression in an individual through stages (Pretorius et al., 2015). Erikson’s model for the approach of development involves the focus of overcoming conflicts that individuals encounter over the span of their childhood that influence their ego identity, or the conscious sense of self that develops and constantly changes due to new experiences and information that is acquired through daily interactions with others and events. In Erikson’s theory, he believed that each person experienced a conflict that served as a defining moment in their development that essentially shaped who they would become later on in life; he believed that unresolved problems of adult life echoed unresolved conflicts of one’s childhood (Berger, 2011).

As the child continues to accomplish a variety of different accomplishments in the mainstream society, the people already familiar with the child from the county will perceive him entirely different than others who lack knowledge of him. The child’s “uncle will still call [him] Roy Boy” and the “corn may grow so high if you stood in the field you’d disappear, the fact aiming your eyes down the road”. This demonstrates the difficulty of altering the perception of certain people who are already familiarized with the child. These people are unable to abandon their initial perception of the boy due to their strong, ineradicable association with him; rather, they will find it more awkward and uncomfortable seeing a completely different suave gentleman due to his significant change. Regardless of how many achievements the child has accomplished, he will never be able to erase his past as a little boy in the county. Even if the boy never comes back to visit his county again, the past will linger with him for the rest of his life due to his inability to change his innate characteristics that shape him as a person today. It is because of the boy’s past that he is able to adapt and continuously achieving numerous different

“Growing up is losing some illusions, in order to acquire other,” says Virginia Woolf, an English writer. Growing up is preordained. Everyone grows up. When do we grow up? Perhaps, after we graduate school, maybe after our first love, or maybe after our marriage or maybe after the birth of our first kid. It primarily depends on how one looks at it, but irrespective of what we consider the right time or the right situation to be “grown-ups”, we cannot help but admit that it is that moment in time where innocence vanishes. As children, we dream of growing up, getting a job, getting married, living happily but on the contrary it is quite different, we find that reality is completely opposite. More often than we wish, we were still children,

One of the most critical points in a person’s life is their childhood. Erik Erikson

Harwood conveys the importance of reconciling with our past, memories and childhood to truly grow up and move forward as a

This theory attempts to explain why individuals who have had a rough or neglectful childhood have trouble adjusting in adult life, or why adolescents who had trouble finding and identity have issues later in life (Erikson, 1994). This theory helps therapists to ask more key questions about developmental stages and how the patient adjusted to each one (Mummendey, 1999). For example, If the patient was not able to establish a healthy identity then the therapist can identify what was in the way of the formation (Mummendey, 1999).

The interview was conducted with a married female, 59 ½ years of age. The purpose was to document the subject’s lifespan history with recollections of significant events in her development. The focus was to identify any dystonic outcomes during any of the stages of Erikson’s personal developmental theory, theory of the mind, Levinson theory, attachment theory and Identity theory. It is anticipated that the questions could quarantine specific areas and incidents that may have obstructed any of the developmental theories thereby influencing the subject’s later view of adolescent, young adult and middle age. The focus for the paper is inspired by Erickson’s emphasis on the identity crisis as the “psychosocial

“every generation , every man is a part of his past. He cannot escape it, but he may

During the 1930s and ’40s, psychoanalytically oriented clinicians in the US and Europe were making observations of the ill-effects on personality development of prolonged institutional care and frequent changes of mother-figure during the first years of life. Among them was a psychiatrist who, prior to receiving his medical training, had studied developmental psychology. His name was John Bowlby. At this time mainstream psychoanalytic

Theory is a journey to uncover the past and improve the future. By uncovering and analyzing a discipline’s theoretical journey, insight and self-awareness are gained. According to Meleis (2012), “Theories are reservoirs in which related knowledge is articulated and organized into meaningful wholes” (p.33). By implementing and analyzing theories, empowerment and guidance for the future is obtained.

Developmental psychology is rapidly becoming an inalienable branch of the subject of psychology. Developmental psychology can be defined as the scientific study concerned with how and why human beings develop over the course of their life. Although connected with infants and children, the scope of developmental psychology has expanded over the years. It also describes the concepts of adolescence, adult development, aging, and the entire lifespan. The three developmental theories used here for studying Anne Frank and her memoir are Psychosexual development (Freud), Kohlberg’s stages of moral development and Psychosocial development (Erikson).

Memories: The Keys to the Past “Like all science, psychology is knowledge; and like science again, it is knowledge of definite thing, the mind” (Baldwin., n.d.). The definition of mind according to Merriam-Webster is “the part of the person who thinks, reason, feels, and remembers” (Merriam-Webster., n.d.). What a person feels, thinks, and remembers comes from the memories inside of the brain. Developmental Psychology “seeks to understand how and why all kinds of people, everywhere, of every age-change over time” (Berger, 2004). Memories are also a part of seeking how and why people change over time.

The following will analyse the Psychodynamic theory founded by Sigmund Freud. It will focus on the components of the ‘mind’ including the Conscious, the pre-conscious proper and the Unconscious. Examining his structure of Personality with reference to The’ Id’, ‘Ego’ and ‘Super-ego’. It will discuss Freud’s proposal of stages within his ‘psychosexual development’. It will then focus on Carl Rogers Humanistic theory, explaining his concept of the ‘Actualizing tendency’ and incorporating his creations of ‘Self concept’, the ‘Organismic self’ and the ‘Ideal self’. As a contribution to Roger’s work also highlighting Abraham Maslow’s ‘Hierarchy of needs’. Freud and Rogers will then

‘a life plan made in childhood, reinforced by the parents, justified by subsequence events, and culminating in a chosen alternative’. (Berne 1972:446)

“Early life experiences impact the person across their lifespan” is conveyed in the Jane Piaget theory ‘Stages of cognitive development’ (1936) and Erik Erikson theory ‘Psychosocial stages’ (1950). Piaget argued that children develop knowledge by constructing their experience and observe with their own ideas about how the thing works.(Burton, L.J., Westen, d. & Kowalski, R.M. 2015) He developed 4 stages of his theory: Sensorimotor Stage, Preoperational Stage, Concrete Operational Stage and Formal Operational Stage. At the same time, Erik Erikson proposed a psychoanalytic theory of psychosocial development comprising eight stages from infancy to adulthood. At every stage, a person will encounter a psychological crisis, the development of