Erik Erikson and loss and grief
Erik Erikson and loss and grief
In 2013, during my course that I followed, I was given the choice to obtain credits through the so-called “free space”. This means that you choose a topic you want to delve into as a future professional. Since I was just in the phase where I was thinking about actually realizing my dream, setting up my own loss and grief counseling practice, I chose to write an article about loss and grief and link it to Erik Erikson's theory.
Much has been written about grief using Piaget and Freud's theory, but I hadn't come across Erik Erikson's theory yet. So why not? I thought it would be a nice challenge. Will you read along with the result?
Erik Erikson's theory linked to grief
Erik Erikson describes the development of people through eight different stages. In these eight stages, there is always a development conflict that needs to be resolved. Erikson believes that if it is resolved properly, it will be easier for people to also resolve the conflict in the next phase. However, if a conflict is not resolved properly, this can have negative consequences for the person's development in the future.
When we look at loss and grief and then link Erik Erikson's theory to them, it is true that not all stages need to be linked. That is why I will only name those stages and describe what it can mean in terms of loss and grief.
