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Emily (age 3) is just learning to be potty trained. Her parents place her on the toilet and be patient for success. They teach her to become more independent by not using pull ups as often and teach her a sense of independence by using the toilet. If there is no success, they make sure not to criticize her for her accidents so Emily doesn't feel failure (shame). The crisis of this stage is gaining a sense of independence without feeling shame after times of failure or accidents.
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Emily (age 10) is beginning to learn how to do division in math class. Her teacher checks her paper and tells her she got them all right. Emily smiled and felt confident. Her teacher gave her a harder worksheet next, but she didn't get any right. Her teacher helped her fix her mistake and she encouraged Emily so she didn't feel inferior. The crisis of this stage is to gain competence in specific skills without losing self-esteem if they can't achieve that skill.
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Emily (29) gets a divorce from her high school sweetheart. They were married for 9 years but the spark (intimacy) just wasn't there anymore. Emily soon became very depressed and lonely (isolation). After awhile, she gained her confidence back and met the love of her life and dreamed to share a long-term commitment with him. The crisis of this stage is between a sense of commitment in a happy relationship, or avoid intimacy and become isolated.
