DEVELOPMENTAL CRISIS IN EARLY ADULTHOOD: A ...

oth phases there is the description of growing dissatisfaction, a stifled desire for
change and a life structure that is no longer attuned to one’s needs. Hopson and
Adams’ first phase of “Immobilisation” parallels the experiential aspect of Phase 1 of
the current model, as it relates to the description of being trapped and frozen. They
also describe a phase of “Trivialisation”, in which the need for change is trivialised
and minimised in order to accept the status quo. This same kind of resistance to
change is also shown in Phase 1 of the current model.
“Separation” in the current model is the phase during which a person
experiences emotional turmoil and separation from job and/or relationship.
O’Connor and Wolfe describe a phase that is very similar and which they call
“Crisis”. They describe this as the moment of a turning point in which the person
leaves the pre-crisis life structure but finds no replacement. It is also a time of
intense negative emotions including “anger, depression, anxiety, grief, confusion
and despair.” (O’Connor and Wolfe, 1987, p.806). Hopson and Adams also
describe a phase which has a peak of negative emotion, which they call
“Depression”. As the name suggests they concentrate on the experience of
depression as the characteristic experience of the reaction to change, which does
not correspond with the far more complex and varied affective reaction shown by
participants in this thesis. Hopson and Adams mention another phase at this point
called “Accepting Reality for What It Is”, which involves the cognitive
acceptance of the need for change and growth, and corresponds to the
psychological separation part of Phase 2 of the current model.
Then comes an important commonality in all three models; towards the
end of crisis, after the main peak of emotional disruption but before any
resolution, there are phases characterised by searching and experimentation.
“Exploration” in the current model involves exploration, self-examination,
experimentation and a search for new direction and new intrinsically motivated
activities. In Hopson and Adams’ model there are two similar phases;
“Experimentation” and “Search for Meaning”. These are the penultimate phases
to their seven phase model, as is the “Exploration” phase the penultimate phase
in Chapter 9’s model. In O’Connor and Wolfe’s model, there is a similar
penultimate phase called “Re-direction and Adaptation”, in which there is also an
emphasis on experimentation and trial-and-error. They say of this phase:
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