Reply to students dq by 10 am 10/22/16
Middle adulthood is a developmental period that ranges from the ages 40 to 60-65. During middle adulthood adults will experience many changes. These midlife changes can include physical changes, psychosocial challenges, relationship adjustments, and caring for aging parents. Erikson has proposed that adults are resolving the psychosocial crisis of generativity vs. stagnation (Newsome & Gladding, 2014). Generativity is refers to finding ways to give to and guide the next generation. This is when the adult feels the need to give back and to help others move in the right direction. Becoming more so a positive force for those around them. Stagnation refers to becoming detached from important relationships and becoming self-centered and even narcissistic.
Erikson’s take on late adulthood described the psychosocial task of older adulthood as one of resolving conflict between ego integrity and despair (Newsome & Gladding, 2014)
. Elders with ego integrity are usually proud of their accomplishments and are grateful for their life and all of the things they experienced. Elders experiencing despair have many regrets about how they lived their life. They fear death and they feel like their lives are meaningless.
Mental health counselors must be knowledgeable of these areas. As a mental health counselor I will maintain relevancy and research ways to help those adults who are experiencing stagnation or despair. It’s be researched that adults going through despair may benefit from group or individual counseling. So by specializing in this areas it will give me an advantaged in the counseling process. I want to be able to shadow much more experience counselors in these areas, to improve upon my craft.
Newsome, D.W. & Gladding, S. T. (2014). Clinical mental health counseling in community and agency
settings (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc