Introduction:
Mr. Jonathan White is a 35 year old man who had come to the counseling sessions with a number of issues with the primary of suicidal ideation and lack of apathy towards life. He was seen to be suffering from depression as well as anxiety that had made him socially excluded from friends and relatives. He is yet unmarried and stated that although he had many relationships but none turned towards marriage. He was seen to suffer from alcohol disorder and consumed more than 20 pegs a day. He is aware of the fact that his excessive dependency on drinking of alcohol is one of the most important relationships which had resulted in failed relationships in the past. His mother has passed few days back and he feels like dying soon as he cannot tolerate his separation from his mother. His father lives alone in another city and visits them rarely. He was found to be entirely broken down and he wanted the healthcare professional to help him regain back his stability in his life. This assignment will mainly use the Erikson’s model of psychosocial development and Albert Bandura’s theory of observational learning to analyze the mental and emotional turmoil and the life crisis he is going through.
Analysis of his lifespan of 35 years with the help of different theories:
Erikson had put forward the psychosocial development theory which shows that personality is developed through a number of stages. He was of the opinion that social experiences of an individual impacts his lifespan and had shown how social interaction as well as relationship play an important role in the development and growth of the human beings (Syed et al.). Studies are of the opinion that ach of the stage is usually built on the different preceding stages and thereby is seen to pave the way for following the periods of the development. It has been found that in each of the stages, every individual experiences conflicts and each of them needs to overcome such conflicts to develop a psychological quality. Failure to do so might result in failure in developing the quality (Cherry et al.). During this time, if the people are seen to deal with the conflict successfully, they can emerge out from the stage with psychological strengths that would serve them throughout rest of their lives. When the people are seen to fail in dealing with the conflicts, they fail to develop the essential skill required for a strong sense of self. This theory can be used to analyze each of the stages in the life of Jonathan to understand the conflicts he had faced and how he had handled the conflicts. This would help the counselor to understand the stage where he had failed to develop the psychosocial capabilities required for living healthier and better quality lives.
The first stage is called the Trust versus mistrust that mainly prevails between the birth and eighteen months of age. During this time, the infant is seen to become utterly dependent and their development of trust is entirely found to be based on the dependability as well as quality of the caregivers (Villar et al.). Children remains highly dependent on their adults caregivers fir everything that they need like food, love, warmth, safety, and nurturing. It has been found that if a caregiver fails in providing adequate care and love, the child will come to feel that he or she cannot trust of depend upon adults in his or her life. Jonathan’s father was very careless about his family and spent most of his time drinking and gambling with his friends. He spent very little time with Jonathan during this stage and even during his presence in the house; he used to be aloof from his son and wife. Studies opine that caregivers who are inconsistent, rejecting or emotionally unavailable contribute in developing a feeling of mistrust in their children under care (Dunken et al.). Hence, Jonathan was found to be disorganized in his life where he could not trust anyone in his lives even his friends and his partners. Failure in developing trust in this phase result in development of fear and belief making him feel that the world is inconstant and unpredictable.
The second stage is called the stage 2 which includes autonomy as well as shame and doubt. In this stage, the children are seen to start gaining a little independence. In this stage, they are seen to perform the basic actions by their own and they also make simple decisions about what they prefer (Zhang). Researchers are of the opinion that caregivers should allow their kids in making choices as well as gaining control and thereby help children in developing a sense of autonomy. Children who are seen to complete this stage feel confident and secure while those who do not succeed are seen to be left with inadequacy and self-doubt (Kinght et al.). Erikson has been of the opinion that achievement of the balance between that of autonomy and shame-doubt would lead to will development that the belief that the children can act with intention with reason and limits. In case of Jonathan, it was seen that his mother used to be fearful and upset about the impact of his father on Jonathan and therefore she always tried to be overprotective for him. She used to too much careful about his needs and in order to cover up for his father’s absence had been too interfering and caring for Jonathan that had affected his sense of independence. This had left him with a sense of inadequacy and self-doubt making him feel in secured and lack of confidence in his life (Schachter et al.).
The next stage is called the initiative versus guilt stage and is the stage number 3. The third stage occurs during the preschool years where children begin in asserting their control and power through directing play as well as other social interactions. Children who are seen to feel capable are seen to be able to lead others (Davis et al.). Others who are seen to fail to acquire the skills are left with sense of guilt, lack on initiative as well as self-doubt. Jonathan had always suffered from lack of confidence in this stage and had not been able to assert enough control over his social interactions. He had not been able o accomplish his tasks at school by himself and had been always seeking for assistance from others which had resulted in accumulation of feelings of guilt in his life.
The next stage is called the industry versus inferiority stage where children are seen to become mature and their self-awareness level develops. They start understanding logical reasoning as well as scientific facts and others which are taught in school and continue from 5 to 13 years. Children in this stage are seen to become competent and they make effort in doing tasks that other children can also do. By performing the tasks and succeeding they are seen to develop self-confidence (Newman et al.). When they fail, they are seen to feel that they are inferior to others. With the loss of confidence and lack of ability to perform task by oneself in the previous stage, Jonathan was seen to lag far behind the other children not only in academics and also in sports which affected his self-esteem and the way he views his own abilities. His teacher had been highly criticizing him which farther affected his confidence. His mother had been supportive but his father continually scolded him who made him develop apathy towards school and academics.
The next stage is called the psychosocial stage 5 or the identity versus confusion. This stage occurs in the teenage years from 13 to 21 years which plays an important role in developing a sense of self-identity that influence behavior and development for the rest of a person’s life. During this stage, children are seen to explore their independence and thereby develop a sense of self (Darling et al). It has been found that those individuals who receive proper encouragement as well as reinforcement through personal exploration merge from this stage with strong sense of self and feelings of control as well as independence and control. Jonathan in this stage was found to be quite unsure of his beliefs and desires and he was also seen to lack confidence and self-esteem as well as confused about themselves and the future. According to Erikson, it was found that ego identity continuously changes because of newer experiences as well as information that are acquired in the daily interactions with the others (Green et al.). The personal identity gives people and integrated as well as cohesive sense of self that endures through their lives. It is this identity that help individuals in guiding their actions, behaviors as well as beliefs as one age. Jonathan is seen to be remaining aloof during these years and had become introvert in his approach where he used to feel the lack of confidence to socialize with others; he used to remain withdrawn in very actions in his university years which had affected his ego identity. He had rarely taken any challenging in these years that had affected development of an identity and was always found to be in a confused stage.
Jonathan is presently in the psychosocial stage which is also called intimacy as well as isolation stage. This stage mainly includes people from age 21 to 39 when people explore personal relationships. It is important for people during this stage to develop close as well as committed relationships and those who are successful in this stage are found to form relationships that are enduing and secure (Darling et al.). The strong sense of self developed in the previous stage is important for developing intimate relationships. Studies have found that those who have poor sense of self do tend to experience less committed relationships and suffer from sense of emotional isolation, depression and loneliness. Jonathan had failed to develop a sense of self-identity in the previous stage and for this reason he had been found to have failed relationships also suffering from emotional isolation, depression and loneliness. Studies opine that successful resolution of this stage results in the virtue of love (Malone). This is mainly marked by the ability in forming lasting and meaningful relationships with other people. Similar had been the case with Jonathan which had made him suffer from repeated failed relationships.
Albert Bandura had put forward the observational learning theory which can help in understanding the drinking behavior of Jonathan that he had developed in his teenage years. Observational learning can be described as the form of learning that includes learning by observing as well as modeling another’s behaviors, attitudes as well as emotional expressions (Bandura). Albert emphasized that four important components are actually necessary in any form of observing. Jonathan had always observed his father being engaged in drinking behaviors and might have copied such behaviors as the teenagers that had impacted his life immensely. Firstly, individuals need to pay attention to the behaviors tat are exhibited by parents, relatives, societies, celebrities and others, then remember the behavior that had been witnessed in the retention phase (Harris et al.). This is then followed by the reproduction phase where the individuals are seen to copy the behavior that is witnessed. This is then followed by the motivation phase where the individuals tend to find a reason for imitating the behaviors. It can be stated that the intake of alcohol contributed a realm of alternate reality for Jonathan where he could release his feeling of loss as well as feelings of hopelessness he had developed during his teenage years. He had been always unsure about his abilities and always felt lack of confidence to overcome any challenges in his life. He started drinking alcohol by observing his father and this drinking of alcohol made him forget all his pain. These feelings made him get addicted to drinking within a few days making him develop an addiction for this (Mamykina et al.). This had been yet another cause for his separation with his partners. Such observational learning also taught him to rely on fast foods and take-away foods which were a common norm in his household. Both his parents were seen to rely on fast foods which also made him learn the intake of fast foods in his life. Living sedentary lives and eating such fast foods made him develop obesity (Borsa). He was often body shamed for his huge weight which also contributed to one of his causes of social isolation and poor quality life with depression.
From the above discussion it can be seen that Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development as well as Albert Bandura’s theory of observational learning helped in understanding the various turmoil faced by Jonathan. This had shaped in developing his lifespan situations that had affected his quality of life.
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