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Sarah Develops Mistrust
Sarah's mom believes that it is best to let her cry and walk out of the room until she stops crying. Sarah is just an infant who needs some affection, but yet she is left all alone. From the lack of care she ends up mistrusting her mom and other caregivers. In Erikson's first stage of trust versus mistrust, the crisis is between a infant receiving enough love and affection and developing a sense of trust opposed to being left alone and not cared for and developing mistrust towards others. -
Sarah Recognizes Her Own Identity
Sarah received her last quarter report card for the year. She did well in every subject except math. At first she felt disappointed in herself for not doing well, but then she realized she's not the only one. Her friends are better and worse than her in other areas and that's because everyone is different. In Erikson's fifth stage of identity versus identity confusion, the crisis is between realizing who you are and what your limits are and not knowing what you're identity is. -
Marriage?
Today is Sarah's nine month anniversary with her boyfriend. When they go out to dinner that night, he surprises her and proposes. Sarah is having conflicting thoughts because she's had a hard time trusting others since she was very little, but so far he has been very trustworthy. She says yes because she loves him and wants to be with only him the rest of her life. In Erikson's sixth stage of intimacy versus isolation, the crisis is between fully committing to someone and being alone. -
Volunteering
Sarah decides that since she is almost 50 she should start giving back to others. Today is her first day visiting a children's cancer hospital. She wants to go talk, play and hopefully inspire the kids that are sick so it will give them enough strength to carry on and get better. In Erikson's seventh stage generativity versus stagnation, the crisis is between bettering young children by teaching and loving them and being self-centered to the point of only caring about yourself.
