Person-in-Crisis Scenario
Marie's Developmental Stage
Marie is a 63-year-old female who has exhibited the properties of one stage for the last several years of her life, but she is now entering another developmental stage due to her illness. A person in middle to adulthood stage, according to Erikson is working out the dichotomy of generativity vs. stagnation (Watts, Cockcroft & Duncan, 2009). About this stage, Erikson says
"the fashionable insistence on dramatizing the dependence of children on adults often blinds us to the dependence of the older generation on the younger ones. Mature man needs to be needed, and maturity needs guidance as well as encouragement from what has been produced and must be taken care of" (Watts, Cockroft, & Duncan, 2009, 305).
This points out the difficulty that Marie is currently facing. She has been the matriarch of the family and has fostered the successful development of three daughters and seen another generation begin to develop. However, she is now moving into the last developmental stage in the life cycle, late adulthood, because of the crisis in her life. She now faces the question of whether she will enjoy ego integrity or immerse herself into despair and the fear of death and life left unlived.
Marie's Role Within the Family
Marie has been...
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