Using Erikson's Stages of Development and Freudian Theory to Help Mary

Mary, a troubled 23-year-old, seeks help from a counselor to end the craziness in her life. By understanding Erikson's Stages of Development, Mary can identify her role in life and handle challenges. Additionally, Freudian Theory can help Mary embrace the ego part of her and mediate between her id and super-ego, leading to sound decisions and a balanced life.

CASE STUDY TWO
Mary has just turned 23 and has had a difficult adolescence and
childhood.
Mary spent most of her childhood and adolescence at home alone, her
mother worked evenings at the local aged care facility and her father
would often come home via the RSL.
As a result Mary often missed her tea as her Dad didn’t come home until
late and when he did come home he was violent both towards Mary and
her mother. Domestic Violence was a frequent occurrence in this
household.
Mary has been struggling for the past 7 seven years and has taken after
her father drinking and taking drugs. She has been in trouble with the
police and is hanging out with a “bad” crowd getting into frequent trouble
and has been to court twice now and is currently on a good behaviour
bond. Mary acts more like a 16 year old that a 23 year old and is out of
control at home.
At her last court-hearing Mary was given the choice of some time in a
detention centre of seeing a counsellor, she has chosen to see you as her
counsellor.
At your first session Mary tells you that she wants all this craziness to end
and that she just wants a calm life. She also tells you that things at home
are no better between her Mum and Dad and she is asking questions such
as “What’s life about?”, “Who am I?”, “Where do I belong?”.
1. You have decided that it would be useful for Mary to know about
Erikson’s stages of development. Briefly discuss how you belief this
would be helpful to Mary.
Erikson stages of development is made up of eight stages, but in
Mary’s case, I will be dealing with two stages of development;
adolescent and young adulthood. Mary is an adolescent who has just
entered the young adulthood stage. Through understanding the
important events that take place in these two stages, it will be easy to
help Mary. In the adolescent phase, Mary is seen to be struggling with
a sense of identity and relationship issues with her father. Erickson
stages of development will help identify her role in her life and how she
is supposed to handle herself and deal with life challenges.
Good answer – it will be easy to explain to Mary but whether it will be
easy to help her will depend on how willing she is to make changes

2. In your discussions with Mary about how she “wants all this craziness
to end” you decide that Mary’s understanding Freudian theory (id, ego
and superego) may be useful, briefly explain in what ways this would
be helpful.
According to Freud, the Id is the primitive part and instinctual portion
of the mind. It has sexual and aggressive desires. The superego is the
moral part of the mind, it drives people to do good morally, and the
ego is the realistic part of the mind. It mediates the desires in the id
and super-ego. According to Mary’s situation, she has been following
the id part of her mind. Mary understands that even though she is
much affected by the violence in her home, she can still have a calm
life. This is the super-ego part of her. Mary can picture her ideal self of
how she ought to be or behave. As her counsellor, I will help her
embrace the ego part of her and also how she can use it to mediate
between her id part and her super-ego part. She will also be able to
overcome the struggle and compromises by being able to making
sound decisions hence finding a balance in her life. Besides, Mary will
be able to point her id to the right direction hence avoiding negative
consequences of society.