Question

What are some of the challenges people typically experience when transitioning from adolescence to adulthood? How does Erikson’s theory of Intimacy verses Isolation relate to this? Feel free to draw upon and reflect on some of your own experiences during this transitional period in your response. Provide at least two examples of challenges in your response.

Answer 1

Thank you for the question.

Challenges experienced while transitioning from adolescence to adulthood in terms of Erik :Erikson’s theory of Intimacy verses Isolation:

Erik Erikson's work on Stages of Psychosocial Development states that their are many stages of development of our psyche. This stage is the 6th one of these stages and typically is experienced from ages of 18 to 40 years old. According to the theory, successful completion of each stage results in a healthy personality and the acquisition of basic virtues. The basic virtue of the stage of 'Intimacy verses Isolation' is love and so the goal of this stage is to find a partner to spend the rest of the life with. As such, this goal is embedded in most human beings who belong to the age group and the goal is like a mission for the unconscious mind.

There are many dynamics that we could discuss here, however, I would like to focus on the kind of challenges that could be experienced. Since 'Intimacy verses Isolation' are like two ends of a stick, with 'Intimacy' on one end and 'Isolation' on the other, the theory suggests that, to some extent, both elements are important and need to be experienced in a balanced way. This is based on a deeper truth that we naturally align to find this balance. The challenges could be many. For example, you may have an intimate relationship with someone and it may go to such extremes that you have a craving for isolation. This could look on the outside like your lover is leeching on your energy or commanding you to perform several tasks at the expense of your own health. It may be very intimate to the point that you may loose/forget the 'value' of intimacy and get into uncomfortable situations.

Another challenge could be if one of the persons has lead a life in isolation and the other has had many intimate relationships in the past they may fall in an intimate relationship, the initial stages could be hard for the couple to adjust to that level of intimacy and awkwardness. This however, is moving towards the solution or the goal, the main challenge is the process itself, imagine the awkwardness a person experiences with someone who has never been in an intimate relationship. Since that person has no experience of it, they may consistently feel if they are doing it right, however, if they keep working towards their goal all these challenges would be resolved.

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I hope this helps.

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