I was born to a teenage mother where physical abuse between my mother and father had been present. Though my mother had been caring and loving towards me, eventually my father had become absent because he desired to be with a family he created during my parent’s marriage. By the time I was five-years-old he had become completely absent from my life. Due to the witnessing of the abuse my father had done to my mother, I had become a child who could not count on others being kind or caring in my life which caused me to become weary of others around me. I had projected my insecurities on other people especially when my mother had started to date other men as I was afraid of any man my mother started dating, I mistrusted men, and pushed people away because I was afraid they would leave me.
My mother had become the only person that I would ever trust and be comfortable being attached to in life. This theory correlates to Erikson's “trust versus” mistrust theory where children are trusting and expect their relationships to be persistently gratifying or the child is mistrustful and is persistently mistrustful of those around them, in effect the child will withdrawal from people around them. As a result of my childhood lifestyle I had become a mistrustful child. I did not like strangers especially men to come near me and I had always remained fearful that they would hurt my mother or I. This in turn has continued to follow me throughout my development as I continue to struggle with it in my early adulthood. Despite the amount of mistrust I had developed, I was a child that was full of wonder and possessed the desire to be an individual. When I was younger at the young age of three, I would want to buy my own food with the little...
... middle of paper ...
...le to become more open to people and have learned to allow myself to make bonds with others and not be afraid of their exit from my life or of them potentially hurting me emotionally. With this, I can see myself being more trusting to others and creating better bonds with people which can lead to me eventually forming more intimate relationships with others without burdening others with my insecure attachment style.
Works Cited
Beam, M., Servaty-Sieb, H., & Mathews, L. (2004). PARENTAL LOSS AND EATING-
RELATED COGNITIONS AND BEHAVIORS IN COLLEGE-AGE WOMEN.
JournalOf Loss & Trauma, 9(3), 247-255.
ROMANS, S. E., MARTIN, J. M., GENDALL, K., & HERBISON, G. P. (2003). Age of menarche: The role of some psychosocial factors. Psychological Medicine, 33(5),933-
9. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/204500288?accountid=12597
In each stage, there is a crisis of two opposing emotional forces (McLeod, 2013). From birth to age one is Erikson’s stage of trust vs. mistrust. If taken care of well and protected, a child will achieve a healthy balance of trust and mistrust. Even though Precious’s physical abuse did not start until she was three, there is a high chance that her living environment was not surrounded by safety and love. Precious may have developed mistrust because later on in her life she because suspicious of others and was not able to connect because of an overwhelming sense of fear and inability to trust.
Donaldson, Susan James. “Freud Was Right: Mean Mothers Scar For Life, Some Children Mired the Past, but Others Learned to Move on and Forgive Abusive Moms”. Parental Alienation Canada. ABC News, 7 May 2010. Web. 10 June 2010.
The emotional support children receive from their parents in the early years of their lives can make an everlasting impact in how their fears develop and persist over the course of their lives. Take, for instance, a considerably difficult a child who received a nurturing amount of support from his parents in contrast with another little boy who was physically reprimanded for his antsy behavior. The first boy’s parent’s found tactful ways to allow their child to better handle his fears, consequently allowing him to forge a more functional life in the future. In opposition, the other child’s father, who hit him in efforts to stop his anxiety, ironically contributed to the child’s unwanted behavior, causing him to become more disruptive and disturbed in the
grew up in Europe and spent his young adult life under the direction of Freud. In 1933
The First stage in Erickson’s theory is trust vs. mistrust, this stage occurs during infancy, from birth to one years old. This stage is all about trust, it is the stage where you hopefully begin to trust not only yourself but others as well (Crandell and Crandell p. 36). An infant gains trust in infancy because they can not do anything for themselves, they depend on others to do everything for them therefore in this stage they develop trust in others, their caregivers, that they will do all that they can to take care of their well-being. Developing trust in infancy is crucial because this makes the individual grow up feeling safe and secure in the world. A positive outcome of an infant developing trust is that they grow up feeling safe in the world, a negative outcome would be that the individual grows up in fear of the world. There is no way to develop one hundred percent trust or one hundred percent doubt, Erikson believed that the best way to come out of this stage is with a balanc...
Since the beginning of time parents have been trying to figure out the most efficient way to parent (Sears, 2003, p. 3). Just as parents have tried to figure out the best method, so have scientist (Santrock, 2011, p.20); scientist use theories to help guide their understanding of things such as how parenting and child development go hand in hand. Erik Erikson proposed the theory that children develop in psychosocial stages (Santrock, 2011, p.21). Erikson’s theory contained 8 stages in which he believed we are faced with a dilemma that must be dealt with. The focus of this paper is the very first psychosocial stage, which he proposed that we experience in the first year of life (Santrock, 2011, p.21). Erikson’s first psychosocial stage is the dilemma that we face between trust and mistrust (Santrock, 2011, p. 21). This stage is very important because it occurs in the infant’s first 12 months of life and plays a part in shaping the rest of their life (Santrock, 2011, p. 21). According to Santrock (2011), Erikson’s theory proposed that this stage is when the infant determines whether or not the world is a place in which they will enjoy residing (p.22).
In this research paper, I would like to discuss and expound upon the topic of trust. The concept of trust can be defined, as it through the Merriam-Webster dictionary, as “assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something” or “one in which confidence is placed.” There are many aspects and contingencies regarding the concept of trust which I would like to further discuss later in this paper. Also, there is an enumerate amount of elements that go into building trust as well as the cost of distrust and betrayal. I would also like to discuss distrust and betrayal as well, as it still relates to the topic of trust when someone places trust upon you and commit one of those acts, how would an individual bounce
According to Erik Erickson, in the first year of a child’s life, the main challenge is to establish trust. After birth, an infant must depend completely on others to fulfill their needs. To create a safe environment for the baby, a caregiver must provide things like food, love, and safety. Overall, if the child’s needs are met, the child should develop a positive and trusting attitude toward the world. This security will allow them to build trust with others in the future. For infants that are mistreated or neglected, the world would seem like a scary place. Sadly, they create a barrier and learn to mistrust others. Also, if the child’s needs are not completely fulfilled, the child may develop an insecure attitude (Romero).
There are many different theorists with several different ideas. I have chosen to focus on Erikson’s theory of Trust vs . Mistrust. I have to strongly agree with his ideas because I believe that experiences that a person might go through as an infant can have a huge impact on their life. I must say that I chose to take in serious consideration his beliefs as I am raising my daughter.
Due to the circumstances that I had to live my life with I was disowned by my family all because my parents were ashamed of the person I was becoming, not heeding’s to their teachings of not letting the environment I was in getting the better of me but I should use the place I was as a reference to be better in life, I didn’t blame them at all because I could only imagine back then how block
The first stage in Erikson’s psychosocial theory is the Trust vs. Mistrust stage. This stage is from birth to about one year of age. This is the time when an infant child learns to depend on another for affection, comfort, and nutrition eventually learning to blindly trust the primary caregivers to provide these things (Cooper, 1998). When the infants needs are met, then the infant develops a specific attachment with their caregiver, if the outcome is negative then the infant learns to mistrust the people around them and the environment that they are in. This brings us to the next stage in psychosocial
Stage one of Erikson’s psychosocial theory is called “Basic Trust versus Basic Mistrust.” This stage ranges from birth to eighteen months of age. According to Erikson, during this stage my parents were the main variable from which I learned to trust. They provided me love, care, and nourishment so that I could learn to trust them. In my particular case, being as though I am adopted, it was probably a little harder at first for me to trust my parents. Even though my parents constantly babysat me before they became my foster parents at three month of age, I can only imagine how much harder it was for them to create a trusting bond with me in the beginning.
It had come to the attention of my family that I had some sort of psychological problem and something had to be done. I was always labeled as a shy and quiet kid, and like my family I had thought nothing more of my behavior. However, now it had become something more obvious. I had told my parents the kinds of problems I was having. Basically I didn't want to talk to anyone or to be anywhere near anyone I didn't know. I didn't really want to leave my house for any reason for fear that I might have to talk to someone. I was so critical and scrutinizing in relation to myself that I couldn't even enter into a conversation. Everyone seems to have a part of themselves that lends itself to thoughts of pessimism and failure, but mine was something that was in the forefront of my mind at all times. Something telling me that everything I did was a failure, and that anything I ever did would not succeed. Through discussion with my family it was decided that I should move out of my parents house to a place where I could find treatment and get a job. I was to reside with my sister Lisa, her partner Brynn, and their Saint Bernard in Greensboro.
When I left my room, my mother knew that I had gone through a rough time, and I did not want to talk to her about it. Even though there was only a month left in my school year, I promised myself that I would be completely truthful to my friends, my family, my heritage, and myself. I expected all my friends to leave me, but I was fully prepared for this. However, none of this ever happened. My friends didn’t leave me, I wasn’t alone at the lunch table, I wasn’t even seem differently by those around me. I had failed my family by doing this, and I wished I had stopped acting like someone I wasn’t sooner. This is one of the only mistakes I have made which I consider a failure because it had taken me close to a year to fix, and this is why I consider it my most successful failure.
Erikson’s first stage of development is the Trust versus Mistrust stage that occurs from birth till the first 18 months of life. According to Erickson this is the period in which infants develop a sense of trust or mistrust, depending largely on how well their caregivers meet their needs (Feldman). During this stage of my life I was being taken care of by both Mom and Dad, but primarily by Mom. My mom was a stay at home parent while my dad worked. Both my