We Need to Talk About Kevin

Erikson
According to Erikson some parental behaviors are pathogenic because they prevent effective resolutions of epigenetic crises. In many instances Kevin’s mother and father contributed to Kevin’s underdevelopment of a competent ego. To begin with, Erikson displayed an extended and altered version of Freud’s psychodynamic theory. Erikson extended Freud’s infantile developmental stages into adolescence, adulthood, and old age, following a completed life cycle. Additionally, Erikson suggested that at each stage “a specific psychosocial struggle contributes to the formation of personality…that struggle takes the form of an identity crisis—a turning point in one’s life that may either strengthen or weaken personality” (Feist & Feist, 2008, p. 243). In the movie, it is showcased that Kevin’s mother, Eva, seemed to have been suffering from some sort of internal illness e.g. depression. Just after Kevin is born, it is quite noticeable from the mother and infant relationship, characteristics of postpartum depression: suffered by a mother following childbirth, commonly arising from the combination of hormonal and psychological changes to motherhood, as well as displaying fatigue.
Kevin as an infant was always crying, his mother on the other hand was incapable of meeting her infant’s needs. For example, in a particular scene when Kevin was crying non-stop, Eva decided to go out for a stroll hoping the walk would calm him down. Instead, the walk made it worse as they passed a construction zone full of commotion and noise, causing Kevin to be further agitated as he continued to cry. His mother’s behavior exhibited that she did not know what to do further, for a moment Eva even blanked out leaving Kevin surrounded in the chaotic noises of the construction site. Erikson stated that “our ego is a positive force that creates a self-identity, as the center of our personality