Citation

Schechter M, Herbstman B, Ronningstam E, Goldblatt MJ. Psychoanal. Study Child 2018; 71(1): 20-39.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Yale University Press)

DOI

10.1080/00797308.2017.1415596

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Emerging adulthood (approximately ages eighteen to twenty-nine) has been identified as the transitional age between adolescence and young adulthood. People in this phase of life face specific issues and pressures in developing and consolidating various aspects of identity. The process of coming to experience oneself as a coherent, whole person, and learning about one's own attributes, capacities, and potential for growth can be fraught and vulnerable to developmental disruption. Difficulties with identity development and consolidation can lead to experiences of disconnection, aloneness, despair, and harsh self-attack that heighten vulnerability to suicide. The psychotherapeutic relationship can help the patient achieve a degree of self-recognition that might not otherwise have been possible, decreasing vulnerability to suicidal despair and opening up the potential for ongoing development and growth. Together, patient and therapist have the opportunity to more fully recognize aspects of the emerging adult's identity that are present but have not been fully realized, and also to renegotiate other aspects of identity that are based on old, maladaptive "scripts." We present clinical material to illustrate how struggles with identity relate to suicidality, and to highlight the challenges and opportunities of psychodynamic work. © 2018 Claudia Lament, Rona Knight, and Wendy Olesker.

Language: en

Keywords

suicide; identity; psychotherapy; Emerging adults