DEVELOPMENTAL CRISIS IN EARLY ADULTHOOD: A ...

Violet memos
09.02.05
Once again we find with Violet a narrative of liberation – an escape from a constraining, false life
replete with lies and duplicity. The position she was in she was maintaining out of a sense of ‘duty’ –
an obligation to others, rather than to herself.
Crisis is defined by negative symptoms in thought, imagery, feeling and body. There are thought
patterns that ruminate over all sorts of weird things. There are intrustive images, negative emotions
from anger to guilt to grief and physical symptoms of illness. Not necessary all concurrent, but they
are all there.
It is interesting that a number of the interviewees go back to study directly off the back of the crisis – as
though the release of constraint gives them the opportunity to develop themselves again, and that study
gives them the opportunity to develop themselves – to grow, rather than remain static.
On Page 8 Violet uses a nice analogy – she wants to get her integrated voice together, and wants “to be
part of the fantastic chorus.” This shows the dialectical interplay of individuation and collective
togetherness. Being part of a chorus is all about being involved in something bigger than you, but only
by sticking to your line and playing your part. If you wander off and just do what everyone else is
doing, there will be no harmony and the chorus won’t work.
Supressing feelings was a way of making it (the dyad) work – for her desires were not in line with the
maintenance of the status quo. Repression as adaptive within the confines of a social system that is not
questioned.
Memo – page 2 – interesting use of ‘non-reality’ – reminds me of ‘non-person’
“So suddenly being a single parent I realised that I had been a single parent for years.” This quote sums
up something profound – upon release away from the holding system, the individual realises that he or
she was isolated before. Thus separation has perhaps happened a lot earlier mentally, but the body
remains trapped, out of obligation, and then gets brought into the space where the mind has been for a
while – outside, independent, with new possibilities for the future.
17.01.05
• Liberation
• The last straw
• Hitting rock bottom
• What’s wrong with me?
• I’ve blown it.
• Who am I?
• Trapped
• Its all too much
• Bullied
Between–Case Memos
Crisis types (or crisis elements??)
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