Human 5

the energy of the sexual drive.

the concentration of mental energy on one particular person, idea, or object.

pushing away

Adolescence is a process of "individuation" and a "psychological weaning"
Becoming your own person
Moving away from the family
Individuation involves the shedding of family dependencies and the loosening of infantile ties in order to become a member of the adult world
Crucial adolescent task: separation from parental dependency and finding extra-familial love objects

Alternating progressive (push away family) and regressive (emotional refueling) movements

Only through conflict can maturity be obtained

a. relatively free psychic conflicts, a time of ego consolidation
b. 9-12
c. Life is good
d. Caregiver is here, no fight for power or autonomy

2. Prepubescent 13~
a. Increase in libidinal drives and decrease in ego control
b. Restlessness, moodiness, increase in aggression
c. Sexual desire starts swelling up
d. New found sexuality
e. Overwhelmed by libidinal drives

a. General beginning of separation from early ties
b. Conflict with primary care giver
c. Libidinal energy seeks extra-familial outlet
d. Turn to same-sex friends, "crushes" which may have erotic undertones i.e. sleepovers, blood brothers, mutual masturbation looking through a playboy
e. Friends serve as "ego-ideals"; the missing perfection of self

The idealized friend shrinks to ordinary proportions whenever the ego ideal has established itself within, rather than outside, the person.-Blos
As you grow, mature, and become more self-sufficient, you begin to reevaluate friendships (do you still need specific friends?)

a. Increased libidinal drives/Beginnings of sexual/romantic "object finding"
b. Irrevocable emotional disengagement from parents:
c. I am no longer baby, don't need parents anymore
d. The finality of this inner break with the past shakes the adolescent's emotional life to th core; but this break also opens up unknown horizons, raises hopes, and generates fears.-Blos
e. Mourning response:
f. The adolescent incurs a real loss in the renunciation of parents and (s)he experiences inner emptiness, grief, and sadness.-Blos
g. The price of independence is the tolerance of loneliness as well as the acceptance of personal limitations and of the temporality of life.-Blos

Self-cathexis
All of that energy is focused on the self
Assures protection against disappointment, rejection, and failure in the game of love
Good for a short period of time for building self-confidence
Can't let it last too long (narcissism)
Also leads to overvaluation of self, touchiness, self-absorption, and self-aggrandizement.

While previously the parent was overvalued, considered with awe and not realistically assessed, s(he) now becomes undervalued ad is seen to have the shabby proportions of a fallen idol-Blos

a. Consolidation, stabilization of ego, decline in inner crisis

The newly circumscribed developmental phase from approximately 18-25 years of age
1950 median age for marriage: 20 years for women, 22 for men
Early 2000s: 25 years for women, 27 for men
Age 30: 75% are married w/ children
Large moratorium

Offers the most opportunity for identity exploration in realms of love, vocation, and worldviews

independent of social roles, normative expectations of either adolescence or adulthood.Some have kids, some have jobs, some live at home, no norm

Don't feel like an adult or adolescent. Feel in-between.

residential mobility peaks in mid-twenties Constantly moving around
In U.S. physical proximity to parents is inversely related to quality of relationship with them. Your relationship with your parents will be stronger the further away you are from them.

unfettered by social ties (familial or vocational commitments) Ask an adolescent if they want to go to a ball game? Got to check with parents.
Ask an adult if they want to go to a ball game? Check with wife, work.
Ask someone who just got out of college? Let's go!

Energized/bewildered by array of identity possibilities.
You can do whatever you want.
Overwhelmed by choices.
Can't just pick one, need everything
Can become frozen in immobility

Adolescents try out new identities for the sake of trying something new.
In emerging adulthood, less on what you want to do more on who you want to be.

what kind or person am I and what kind of person best suits me?

substance abuse, binge drinking, drunk driving, unprotected sex researches its height.

Culturally constructed not universal

The most volitional time
The time to take matters into our own hands
Make your own decisions

The age of transformative life events
This is the time that sets you on the path that makes you who you are today.

Ego: the conscious part of personality. The things you know about yourself
Self: the totality integrated personality, including unconscious and unfulfilled potentials. The "psychic nucleus" of ourselves.
The self is made up of opposites which strive for unity, coherence, and balance

Opposites: introvert/extrovert, rational/irrational, physical/spiritual, impulsive/cautious, masculine/feminine, thinking/feeling, good/evil, death/life, conscious/unconscious

Childhood: parent-child relationship
First adulthood: ego-world relationship. Who am I in relation to the world? Outward journey.
Second adulthood: ego-self relationship. Who am I in relation to my entire self? Inward journey.

Third adulthood: self-infinite relationship. Facing mortality.

Adaptation to outer reality
Strengthening of consciousness
Building of ego, social identity

Confronting mortality
Conflict between onset of biological aging and need for further psychic/spiritual development
Dreams, depressive symptoms, anxieties, compulsions, yearning, delusions, loss of energy, sudden fits of anger mean the unconscious (Self) is calling one to a new life.
One must find a new path after becoming lost.

Individuation
One needs to restore wholeness
Come to terms with one's past and true Self
Integrate all aspects of unconscious and conscious into unified whole.

The self summons us to ourselves by disrupting our conscious selves.
For individuation to take place one must undertake an inward journey
What does one encounter on this journey
Persona: one's "social mask". The part of identity that is concerned with relation to the surrounding world.
We aren't just our social role i.e. professor, student, mother, father

Lost memories, painful ideas that are repressed, contents not yet ripe for consciousness.
Try to push away lost memories, however, it comes up again. "haunts" you

Those parts of the self that are rejected from consciousness because they are inconsistent with one's self-concept.
Pretend that parts of ourselves aren't parts of ourselves
Contains vital, yet problematic, elements: anger, sexuality, joy, spontaneity, untapped creative impulses
One must acknowledge parts of self rejected by persona: selfishness, lust, anger, jealousy

The masculine/feminine part of our self
It is by encountering the animus/anima that we can be led to the treasure of our true Self.

Persona, personal unconscious, shadow, anima/animus must be integrated, assimilated into consciousness for individuation/psychic development to occur.

Male: 75
Female: 80

Heart disease
Cancer
Stroke
Respiratory diseases

Alzheimer's

20%

Comes in many forms
First get the news and think the doctor screwed up
Admit that they're dying, lab didn't screw up, they still think about the future though "Looking forward to your graduation next year."

Not just an anger at death but a "why me" mentality
Jealous because they live and you don't.
Get angry at loved ones because they're burdening. You separate yourself from your family.

If I could just get one more year to do this that and the other thing then I'll be in peace with death

Reactive depression
Depressed about everything you've lost or going to lose in life
Burden on the family, financial cost, going to miss out
Preparatory depression
You prepare yourself for death by distancing yourself from people and hobbies you love
Family still wants to be involved, however, the dying person rejects it

Acceptance doesn't necessarily mean happiness
A willingness to confront the inevitability of death
At peace with it