The roots of contemporary adolescent mental health an Erikson perspective

Abstract

This theoretical thesis was inspired by this social workers desire to have a better understanding of the increase in self-harming behaviours, including suicidal ideation, depression, and anxiety among today’s youth. Why all these complex and multi systemic breakdowns. The approached was interdisciplinary in nature which included biological, social, philosophical, anthropological, psychological, and developmental aspects of the individual. When considering a platform, the decision was made to use Erikson’s theory of psychosocial developmental as it provided the broad contextual framework in understanding the fundamental requirements of acquiring a healthy identity through various psychosocial stages. The research analyzed an array of factors such as family structure, parenting styles, relationships, culture, practices, self-determination, materialism/consumerism along with other social determinants and how all of them having some degree of influence on an adolescent’s inability to achieve a healthy identity formation. The intent is not to provide the reader with any direct approaches or strategies to reducing adolescent mental health issues but offers a critical and comprehensive understanding of the multitude of elements that contribute to an adolescent’s state of disequilibrium and potential avenues to explore in therapy.