Case Study on Karl: Psychosocial Development and Needs

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Case notes on Karl

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Table of content
Task 1: Lifestyle stage...............................................................................................................3
Task 2- Needs within the lifestyle..............................................................................................4
Task 3.........................................................................................................................................6
References................................................................................................................................10

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Task 1: Lifestyle stage
In this task, we analyze the stages of Karl’s lifecycle using Erikson’s stages of psychosexual
development. From birth to 12 months of age, an infant faces a choice between trust and
distrust. They should be able to trust the adults around them, which is usually the caregivers
or the parents. In this case, Karl should have been able to trust his mother but he couldn’t do
so as his mother couldn’t keep him safe. The absence of this trust can lead to the child
growing up with feelings of anxiety, and distrust.
At the age of 6 years, he was shifted into foster care. This means that he faced a large change
of environment. From the age of 6-12, which is ideally the elementary school stage, Karl
would have been faced with a choice between industry VS inferiority. He would have started
to compare himself to his peers and would expect a sort of security in his family life. At the
age of 8, Karl faced rejection at the hands of his teacher who made him feel like he wouldn’t
amount to anything in life because of being a part of the ‘foster system’. This kind of
negative experience would lead to an inferiority complex in a child, which we see as he gives
up on his studies because he decides there’s no point to anything. He lost his sense of
accomplishment as well (Kramer, 2017)
According to Erikson, the ages of 12-18 are important for the formation of an identity of self.
This is the period when children start to question their future and start to wonder what their
life is leading too. Since the elementary school stage had been negative for Karl, it was
almost expected for him to not be able to develop a sense of self. However, he lived with one
stable foster family which gave him the stability in family life that was needed. Additionally,
the foster parents gave him the kind of encouragement that he needed. However, since his
previous stage of development had been hampered, he couldn’t experience this sense of
identity and instead struggled to stand up for himself (Silverman, 2017). As a result, he had
decided that he would never pursue further studies.
The next stage, which ideally starts after the age of 18 and preferably the early 20s is a
conflict between intimacy and isolation. If the previous stages were properly developed, the
child feels ready to associate with others as an adult. However, in Karl’s case, he probably
chose isolation since he moved out to his own rented flat at the age of 18.

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Karl couldn’t develop a sense of self-concept in his early years, and thus, developed a feeling
of isolation and loneliness. He sat and waited all of Christmas day for a message from
someone which shows that he felt alone in the world and was hoping that someone would
reach out to him (Erickson, 2000.
Karl claims that his mother has been consuming alcohol since he was very young. Alcohol
induces a sense of ‘high’ which makes a person’s reaction time slower and interferes with the
way their mind and body functions. People who drink at an older age are also at a higher risk
of diseases. In fact, an added negative effect of alcohol is that substance abuse causes strained
relationships, and as a parent, alcohol consumption can cause negligence when it comes to
dealing with your children or family. If Karl’s claims are to be believed, then he grew up in a
house where he had to deal with some level of neglect, and neglect can have a harmful effect
on a child (Kanhere et al. 2015).
Before we analyze the effect of neglect on children, we must first define child neglect. The
Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), defines child neglect as:
“Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death,
serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation; or an act or failure to act
which presents an imminent risk of serious harm.”
Neglect may have different effects on different children. Being neglected by a caretaker
affects the child’s ability to tolerate criticism and negativity in life. However, since Karl grew
up in an environment of neglect, his ability or resilience to negative stimuli was low (Alberts
and Durrheim, 2018). This is the major reason why he decided to give up on his education
and self-identity when the teacher gave him negative feedback. Even, mental health issues
like depression and anxiety have been linked to neglect at an early stage of a person’s life.
Task 2- Needs within the lifestyle
Before we discuss needs and the needs that Karl has been deprived of or will develop at a
later stage, we must first discuss the definition of needs. After that, we must highlight the

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distinction between needs and wants, and how both of these are affected by the child’s
upbringing.
Ideally, a need can be defined as something that a person can’t properly survive without. If a
person is deprived of needs, their development and quality of living can be impeded or
negatively affected. The most basic of needs is the need for food, water, and shelter. Other
than that is the need for safety, basic dignity, etc. All of these when not available cause issues
in development. A want, on the other hand, is not something that is necessary for the person’s
survival. While deprivation of needs can cause a hamper in the quality of living, a person’s
quality of life. A want is only developed to make the quality of life of the individual better.
However, if a person wants to eat a chocolate bar, it becomes a want. So, the basic
requirement of sustenance is the need for food, and a chocolate bar is a need. If the person is
given a sandwich instead of chocolate, their need will be fulfilled as they will no longer be
hungry but their want will not be fulfilled (Janssen, 2016).
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a motivational theory in human psychology which says that
human needs can be depicted in a five-tier pyramid model (Jonas, 2016). In this pyramid, the
needs that feature in the lower rungs must be fulfilled first, and only then can a human being
focus on the needs of the higher rungs. The needs in order of bottom to upper tier are
physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem, and self- actualization. These needs are
further divided into two types- deficiency needs and growth needs. The first four rungs from
the bottom are deficiency needs and the topmost layer is home to the growing needs. The
difference between the two is that deficiency needs arise when the individual is deprived of
these facilities. The longer they stay without the things discussed in the deficiency needs, the
more motivated they must become to satisfy the needs. Growth needs, on the other hand,
don’t go away when satisfied and might also increase in intensity in some cases. These don’t
rise because a person’s deprivation of the facilities, these arise from the person’s realization
that they need these things to grow as a person to attain self-actualization ((Desai, 2018).
In Karl’s case, the neglect that he felt as a child, led to the deprivation of physiological needs
like proper food, drink, shelter, etc. The next tier of safety needs was also not met since
Karl’s mother couldn’t keep him safe. Till a later age, Karl wasn’t even used to feelings of
belonging since he was always going through foster and 10 years with a social worker.
Despite the helpful work that these two institutions did, Karl had still been separated from his

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family and was leading a life that wasn’t the “ideal” definition of childhood. So, the lower
rungs were not met, due to which he couldn’t get to the stage of achieving self-actualization.
At this age, he still needs physiological needs which he has satisfied by himself. He has
moved into a flat of his own and takes care of his nourishment. His safety needs of protection
from elements and freedom from fear have also been met. However, he still suffers from
deprivation of belongingness needs since he still feels alone in the world as nobody reached
out to him. He now has a need to affiliate with people and form deep emotional bonds like
friendship and trust. In Karl’s case, he has managed to take the step to achieve his self-
actualization needs and as Maslow mentions, some individuals might fluctuate between the
needs and not go according to the hierarchy which is true in Karl’s case (Doyle and Aizer,
2018).
After the first two tiers which are the physiological and the safety needs, Karl will have to
move along to the growing needs, his need for understanding his own self, and dealing
properly with issues of self-worth and self-esteem (Goldman et al. 2003).
Now, it is important to analyze how important love and belongingness is as a need. It has
been said time and again that humans are social beings. The need for attachment is high
because existing in a society without any emotional attachment becomes difficult since a
sense of loneliness sets in. Also, without someone to depend on, be it psychologically or
emotionally, the added stress can cause adverse effects on an individual’s mind.
Task 3
Trust v/s Mistrust
From birth till up to 12 months of age, infants need to learn to trust the adults around him/her.
This only happens when an infant’s basic needs for survival are met and fulfilled.
Irresponsible caregivers, who are unable to provide for their offspring, end up making the
world seem like an unsafe and unpredictable place for their infants. They also initiate a sense
of mistrust, anxiety and, also fear in the child. As is obvious children who do not fully
develop through this stage develops major trust issues since they find the world and people
around them to be highly unreliable. These trust issues can, as the individual grows, manifest

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themselves as mistrust in relationships- with friends, romantic interests, family members, etc
(Masten and Monn, 2015).
Autonomy v/s Shame
As children become increasingly independent, being given the opportunity to perform day-to-
day activities on their own—in other words, to not have to depend on others for everything—
are likely to develop a strong sense of independence and autonomy and leadership initiative.
When caregivers, in most cases, are parents, who spoon-feed their children and are overly
protective of them, can lead to the children feeling guilty or fostering a sense of shame in
his/her capabilities. This also buries a seed of doubt in the child’s confidence in his/ her
capabilities of functioning.
Initiative v/s Guilt
When children are allowed to take decisions for self-directed activities develop the abilities to
lead and take initiative independently for their own development and growth as individuals.
Children who manage to successfully resolve this conflict develop a sense of purpose in life
whereas those who do not manage to do so are largely left with feelings of guilt. The children
who are unable to solve this conflict cower away from opportunities and would rather follow
commands given by someone else than take decisions on their own. However, one must also
note that in case the child is brought up in an environment which is inconducive to
developing self-reliance, the child automatically gets conditioned to wait for approval and
commands from a figure of authority.
Identity v/s Role Confusion
This stage occurs in teens where children begin to discover and explore new roles as they
approach responsible adulthood. Overcoming this conflict ensures a strong sense of self and
personal identity. Those who are unable to overcome this stage successfully are left with
confused feelings about their own identities and what they want to do with their lives,
basically they are unable to find an actual purpose in life. This can lead to further confusion
in making decisions about one’s own lie since the individual is so confused about his/her own
purpose in life. While that not necessarily be an issue that lasts throughout one’s lifetime, it
can lead to a lot of issues like indecisiveness, impulse-based decisions, and running away
from issues that can force the person to choose.

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In Karl’s case, these stages didn’t completely fulfill themselves which led to poor
development
in the later stages (Rasskazova et al. 2016).
Intimacy vs Isolation
This stage occurs in early adulthood and teenage. It involves forming stronger bonds with
people, especially romantic ones. These bonds play a pivotal role in resolving this conflict
stage. People who succeed are able to develop strong, lasting and meaningful relationships
while those who don’t end up feeling lonely, isolated and detached from people. Introversion
can also stem from failure at this stage. Humans being extremely social animals, cannot go
long without social interaction, hence failure at this stage also manifests itself as an inability
to connect with people on any level (D’Souza and Gurin, 2016).
Generativity v/s Stagnation
The basic aim of any individual in life is to feel as if they’ve contributed something to the
world, and also have some countable achievements or milestones in life such as raising a
family, success at work, and contribution to community and society through volunteering,
etc. This stage occurs during middle adulthood and the people who are unable to successfully
complete this stage feel disconnected from the world, this includes their family, friends and
other relationships. This is basically because we, human beings, put so much stress on the
fact that by a certain age, one must at least have achieved ‘x’ set of accomplishments or
milestones, or else the person is deemed unsuccessful and as a person with no reputation
(Inoue, 2018). This immense pressure often forces people to loathe themselves and feel like
failures even if they are doing considerably well in other aspects of their life.
Integrity vs Despair
The last stage in Erikson’s theory of development, elderly people look back on their lives
who either feel satisfied with their lives or those who still harbor regrets and wish they would
have done more or done certain things in a different way. This also includes accomplishments
and achievements throughout life. So if a person feels like they haven’t lived their life to the
fullest or achieved a lot in life, they regret life and end up feeling bitter. This bitterness
towards life also stems from jealousy and desire to have been able to reach certain pinnacles
in life that have remained unachieved (Cherry, 2017).

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References
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political struggle: A critical appraisal of Erikson. Identity, 18(4), pp.295-305.
Cherry, K., 2017. Erik Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development. Psychology.
Psychosocial Theories. Päivitetty, 14, p.2017.
Desai, M., 2018. Module 7 Psychosocial Theories of Child Development. In Introduction to
Rights-based Direct Practice with Children (pp. 183-214). Springer, Singapore.
Doyle Jr, J.J. and Aizer, A., 2018. Economics of Child Protection: Maltreatment, Foster Care,
and Intimate Partner Violence. Annual Review of Economics, 10, pp.87-108.
D'Souza, J. and Gurin, M., 2016. The universal significance of Maslow’s concept of self-
actualization. The Humanistic Psychologist, 44(2), p.210.
Erickson, P.E., 2000. Federal child abuse and child neglect policy in the United States since
1974: A review and critique. Criminal Justice Review, 25(1), pp.77-92.
Goldman, J., Salus, M.K., Wolcott, D. and Kennedy, K.Y., 2003. A coordinated response to
child abuse and neglect: The foundation for practice. US Department of Health and Human
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Rasskazova, E., Ivanova, T. and Sheldon, K., 2016. Comparing the effects of low-level and
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