During its development, each person repeatedly faces critical periods, which can be accompanied by despair, resentment, helplessness, and sometimes anger. The reasons for such conditions may be different, but the most common is the subjective perception of a situation in which people perceive the same events with different emotional colors.
Psychology of crisis
The problem of finding a way out of the crisis in recent years has come to one of the leading places in importance in psychology. Scientists are not only looking for causes and ways to prevent depression, but also are developing ways to prepare a person for a sharp change in the status of their personal lives.
Depending on the circumstances that caused the stress, its types are distinguished:
- The crisis of development is the difficulties that are associated with the transition from one completed development cycle to the next.
- A traumatic crisis can occur as a result of sudden intense events or as a result of the loss of physical health through illness or injury.
- The crisis of loss or separation - manifests itself either after the death of a loved one, or with a forced long separation. This species is very stable and can last for many years. Often occurs in children whose parents get divorced. In the case of children experiencing the death of their relatives, the crisis may worsen due to thoughts about their own mortality.
The duration and intensity of each crisis state depends on the individual volitional qualities of a person and how to rehabilitate him.
Age crises
The peculiarity of age-related disorders is that they have a short period and ensure the normal course of personal development.
Each of the stages is associated with a change in the main activity of the subject.
- The crisis of the newborn is associated with the adaptation of the child to life outside the mother's body.
- The crisis of 1 year is justified by the emergence of new needs in the baby and an increase in its capabilities.
- The crisis of 3 years arises due to the child’s attempt to create a new type of relationship with adults and highlight his own “I”.
- The crisis of 7 years is caused by the emergence of a new type of activity - study, and the position of the student.
- The puberty crisis is justified by the process of puberty.
- The crisis of 17 years, or the youthful crisis of identity, arises from the need for independent decisions in connection with the transition to adulthood.
- The crisis of 30 years appears in people who feel the unfulfillment of their life plan.
- A crisis of 40 years is possible if the problems that arose during the previous critical period are not resolved.
- The crisis of retirement arises because of a feeling of lack of demand for a person while maintaining his ability to work.
Human response to the crisis
Difficulties in any of the periods lead to a violation of the emotional sphere, which can cause 3 types of reaction:
- The emergence of such emotions as indifference, longing or indifference, which may indicate the appearance of a depressed state.
- The appearance of destructive feelings, such as aggression, anger and picky.
- It is also possible to withdraw into oneself with a manifestation of feelings of uselessness, hopelessness, emptiness.
This type of reaction is called loneliness.
Youthful period of development
Before analyzing the age period from 15 to 17 years, you should make sure that the term "identity" is understood accurately. Youth and crisis are practically inseparable concepts, since the circumstances faced by a teenager in this period require mastering new types of activities and forms of reaction to situations.
Identity is the identification of oneself with national, religious, professional groups or the people around them. Thus, the crisis of identity, which manifests itself in adolescence, means a decrease in either the integrity of the understanding of the surrounding world, or one's own social role.
Youth is characterized by increased self-control and self-regulation, which leads to vulnerability due to a critical assessment of their own appearance or abilities. The main activity of this period is the knowledge of the world, and most importantly, the neoplasm is the choice of a profession.
The manifestation of an identity crisis
For a deeper understanding of what an identity crisis is, it is necessary to consider what its manifestations are during adolescence:
- Fear of close communication with other people, self-isolation, the formation of only formal relationships.
- Uncertainty in their abilities, which manifests itself either in a complete refusal to study, or in excessive zeal for it.
- Loss of harmony with time. It manifests itself in fear of the future, in the desire to live only for today or striving only for the future, without thinking about the present.
- The lack of a perfect "I", which leads to the search for idols and their full copy.
Identity crisis
According to most psychologists, the crisis of youth is justified by the emergence of a philosophy of consciousness. During this period, any action is accompanied by a lot of thought and doubt that interfere with the activity.
Describing the crisis of identity, Erickson noted that it was he who was decisive in the formation of personality.
Faced with the influence of new social and biological factors, the young men determine their place in society, choose their future profession. But not only their views are changing, others also rethink their attitude to social groups. It is also justified by a significant change in the appearance and maturity of adolescents.
Only Erickson's identity crisis can ensure the formation of a holistic personality and create the basis for choosing a promising career in the future. If the appropriate conditions are not created for the passage of this period, a rejection effect may occur. It manifests itself in a manifestation of hostility even to a close social environment. At the same time, the crisis of identity will cause young people anxiety, devastation and isolation from the real world.
National identity
In every social group over the past century, a crisis of national identity has become increasingly apparent. Ethnicity differentiates itself according to national character, language, values and norms of the people. This crisis can manifest itself both in the individual and in the entire population of the country.
Among the main manifestations of the crisis of national identity are the following:
- The historical past is not appreciated. The extreme form of this manifestation is mankurtism - the denial of national symbolism, faith and ideals.
- Disappointment in government values.
- Thirst for breaking traditions.
- Distrust of government.
All of the above is caused by a number of reasons, such as the globalization of different spheres of life, the development of transport and technology, and the growth of migration flows.
As a result, the identity crisis leads to the abandonment of people from their ethnic roots, and also creates the conditions for the fragmentation of the nation into many identities (supranational, transnational, subnational)
The influence of family on the formation of identity
The main guarantee of the youth’s identity is the emergence of his independent position. An important role in this is played by the family.
Excessive custody, protection or care, unwillingness to give children freedom only exacerbates their identity crisis, resulting in psychological dependence. Due to her appearance, young people:
- constantly require attention in the form of approval or gratitude; in the absence of praise, they focus on negative attention, attracting him with the help of quarrels or oppositional behavior;
- search for evidence of the correctness of their actions;
- tend to physical contact in the form of touch and hold.
With the development of addiction, children remain emotionally dependent on their parents, have a passive life position. It will be difficult for them to build their own family relationships in the future.
The support of a young man by parents should consist of separating him from his family and taking the child fully responsible for his life.