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Emma has decided to go to college right out of high school at 18 years old. She has made this decision because she has a good sense of identity and what she wants to do in life. This is a very important step in development in Erikson's stages. The stage of identity vs. role confusion is when a person can either develop a sense of identity and move on to the next stage or they get stuck in this stage very confused about themselves and what they want to do in life.
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Emma is out of college now and is having a hard time finding intimacy in her life. She can't seem to be intimate with anyone and feels isolated in her life. She has recently become a psychologist, which takes up most of her time. According to Erikson, if Emma does not find intimacy she could feel isolated for most of her life and wouldn't continue onto having a family. This could affect her long term and leave her feeling empty on the relationship side of things.
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Emma is reflecting upon her life and is thinking about what she could have done differently in different areas. She feels very fulfilled in the career area as she became a very successful psychologist and did a lot of important research. She was lacking in the relationship part but she has a very close relationship with her family which made up for a lot of it. Overall, she thought her life was very fulfilling and she did not feel despair while reflecting. She was at ease of mind about her life.