DEVELOPMENTAL CRISIS IN EARLY ADULTHOOD: A ...

17.01/05
Issues of crisis and therapy
Difficult to tease out what is crisis effect and what is therapy.
Perhaps its better not to think in terms of a cause and effect, but rather of setting into sequence a train
of events which leads to better self-understanding and better balance. Think process not discrete causeeffect
links.
Deal with psychology and common sense, because inevitably having to use the psychology of everyday
life, of personal reflection and introspection.
25/1/05
Just a thought, but all the crises I can think of, bar one or two externals, were about agency – moving
from should and external control to want and internal control / autonomy.
26/1/05
There is a separation theme in MANY of the interviews, and with that a moving from external control
to internal control – establishing agency and a new form of being.
The crisis either side of the separation takes on a different character. There is a period of difficulty and
negative emotion before the split, then the split itself, which is accompanied by a window of relief and
hope, then another period of difficulty as the whole new challenge of life without the old comfortable
supports kicks in. This may be anxiety, terror, guilt, isolation, lack of confidence, but it is a second
peak.
27/1/05
On page 4 Mary talks about how she couldn’t operate, and that it was hard work operating. This is an
interesting choice of word and suggests an automaton or robot who is there in body but not in spirit.
27/1/05
After the separation, there is this second period of difficulty, which is characterised by guilt and grief
27/1/05
Whether from family, a spouse or work, many of the interviews relate a story of separation from a
social system (anywhere from a dyad to a corporation) that exerts an oppressive force on the
protagonist of the narrative. This oppressive force prevents autonomy and prevents inner desires and
aspirations from manifesting as action and goal-directed activity. Instead the protagonist hides the
inner world, and acts in accordance with what he or she feels compelled to do by the forces and
constraints imposed on him or her. This results in externally ‘playing a role’ – empty actions that occur
because they are supposed to, without passion or desire. This creates a disjunction between the inner
real self and the outer actual self, which is a ‘derelict house’ or an ‘empty self’. At some point there is
a trigger that permits the protagonist to open to the possibility of change, often involving another
person to whom she or he can open up the inner world without fear of punishment or judgment, and so
start the reconciliation of inner and outer. This leads to a separation from the social system in question,
and a quest for autonomy so that the authentic self, or hidden passions, can manifest. This entails a
process of experimentation in which possible selves and possible activities are tried on for size, and a
gradual opening to a calling, a freely chosen cause or goal, and gradual acceptance into a new social
system that better fits the inner self.
In all three interviews I have done so far, the issue of possibility, and the opening of possibility, or the
255