Relating Bowlby’s Attachment Theory and Erikson’s Eight Stages to My Life

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Most people find that there is no one that knows you better than you know yourself. We know our hopes, wishes and dreams better than anyone else, even our own parents, and we know what we are willing to do to get them. I chose to write about myself for this very reason. I believe that I know myself well enough to be able to analyze myself and understand why I am the way that I am. Since I have entered college, I have noticed a number of things about myself. I used to think that I was outgoing and confident, but now I feel the opposite about me is true. I discovered that I have Attention Deficit Disorder and a learning disability and this has caused a drop in my confidence related to school as well as other areas of my life. This influenced me to change my major from journalism to speech pathology where there are always people finding new ways of helping others that are disabled in the realm of speech. The appeal of helping people rediscover their voice after they have lost it, or just finding their voice in general really called to me. Now my goals are, instead of being a journalist working at a magazine, to work at a clinic with adults who have suffered from strokes and have aphasia or to travel around the world to help children learn to speak who have had cleft palate surgeries. For me to be able to help people that have an impairment that hinders their lives like myself has become very important to me. I also learned an array of digestive issues as well as hormone related issues that affect my mood and keep me fatigued. Needless to say, finding out about this just as I started my freshman college away from home was hard to cope with. But all these experiences, as well as my experiences of being away from home for the first ti... ... middle of paper ... ...ory like hope and will also successfully analyze my childhood as well. I think Erikson’s stage theory is the more convincing theory because each stage of this theory examines each part of life and I feel that it is accurate when it comes to my childhood and puberty. This theory explains behaviors throughout the life cycle and we can grasp a better understanding of why people are the way they are through this theory. As I have analyzed myself with these two theories, I have discovered that I am normal in feeling lost or inferior to others and that my attachment to one parent has driven me to create stable, long lasting relationships. These are general issues that everyone struggles to endure and they only contribute to personal growth. References Crain, W. (2011). Theories of development: Concepts and applications (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

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