(This blog was originally posted on February 9, 2016)
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| Photo by Rick Hustead |
According to psychologist Erik
Erikson, personality develops throughout a person’s lifetime. In other
words, you “become” the person you are, starting from birth until you die. Each
stage is characterized or punctuated by a specific goal that you must achieve
to progress to the next stage of development. If you do not overcome that
challenge, however, you will continue to be affected by the unresolved issue
that is associated with the stage of development in which you are stuck.
Dr. John Kappas incorporated
Erikson’s Stages of Development into his therapeutic approach. The Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder
believed that hypnotherapists must always try to alleviate a client’s
presenting issue “symptomatically.” However, if that approach doesn’t work it
may be necessary to uncover the cause of
the person’s presenting problem.
“Many conditions may be ‘relieved’ later in life if they’re not
completed,” Dr. Kappas said. “We always attempt to fulfill what’s missing.” If
a client is stuck in one of these stages, the hypnotherapist must explain the
stages of development and discuss where/why the conflict arose. It may also be
necessary to explore why the stage of development hasn’t been completed, he
explained.
However, Dr. Kappas warned that age-regression
therapy should not be used to
identify the cause of a client’s presenting problem that developed during one
of those stages. This technique could inadvertently expose a host of other
issues that the person had previously repressed or dealt with, which the
hypnotherapist would have to help the individual address all over again.
Furthermore, HMI does not endorse
age-regression as a form of therapy and legal courts do not admit any evidence
obtained using this method.
The goal of the therapy is to
help the client resolve this conflict and set appropriate goals that are
appropriate to facilitate progression to the stage of development that is
appropriate for the client’s age, he said. Following is a summary of Erikson’s
Eight Stages of Development:
Stage 1: Infancy (oral-sensory, birth-1 year). Conflict: trust vs.
mistrust. Important event: feeding.
Stage 2: Early Childhood (muscular-anal, 1-3 years). Conflict: autonomy
vs. doubt. Important events: Toilet training, suggestibility.
Stage 3: Play Age (locomotor, 3-6 years). Conflict: initiative vs.
guilt. Important event: Independence.
Stage 4: School Age (6-12 years). Conflict: industry vs. inferiority
(competence). Important event: School.
Stage 5: Puberty and Adolescence (12-18 years). Conflict: identity vs.
role confusion. Important event: Peer relationship.
Stage 6: Young Adulthood (19-40 years). Conflict: intimacy/affiliation
and love vs. isolation. Important event: Love relationships.
Stage 7: Middle Age (40-65 years). Conflict: generativity vs.
stagnation/self-absorption. Important event: parenting.
Stage 8: Later life (Maturity, 65 years to death). Conflict: integrity
vs. despair. Reflection on and acceptance of one’s life.
Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors
from the Hypnosis Motivation
Institute in 2005. For more
information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an
appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.
© 2017
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