Person-In-Crisis Scenario Marie's Developmental Stage Marie Is Essay

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 the matriarch of the family.She has been tasked with maintaining a firm but loving hand with her daughters and the rest of her immediate relatives. This role has been usurped by the fact that she can no longer fulfill this role. Marie's role was primarily a factor of her own beliefs about her generativity, but she may now be focusing on despair as she realizes the daunting tasks ahead of her because of her illness. The stroke has also caused her to realize that she will soon face death, and she is probably not ready for it yet.

Family Developmental Life Cycle

Since the three daughters have a mother in her sixties they are likely either in their forties or approaching that age. This puts them in the launching children and moving on stage of family development according to McGoldrick and Carter (Goldenberg & Goldenberg, 2008, 41). At this stage in family life the "family must com e to accept their children's independent role and eventual creation of their own families" (Goldenberg & Goldenberg, 2008, 41). The older daughters are definitely in this stage and may not want to get back into the caretaking role with their mother because of their need to forge lives independent of a constant care role.

The Family Change

Marie had a stroke which.....