Erikson Stages

Erikson’s Psychological Stages: A Summary of My Life
Stage 1: Infancy (Birth to 18 months) – Trust vs. Mistrust
At this point in my life, my parents were still married but my dad was gone a lot, being a truck driver. One of my older half-brothers came to live with us during this stage in my life. He was around 10 years old, and did not want much to do with me. He was in trouble a lot and his mom could not deal with his behavior. My oldest half-brother only came around on occasional weekends. He was my dad’s favorite by far, and so my dad focused on him when he was home from driving truck. My sister, who is two years older, was jealous of the attention I received and would be quite mean to me at times. My mom was young and I do not think she

I think my mom made this choice, to make things easier for herself. I believe she pushed me to grow up to fast so that she would have more independence for herself. My mom and dad also got divorced when I was 5 years old. I struggled in school for the first few years, being pushed into this stage too early in life. With these struggles, I always felt like I was inferior to my sister because she got straight A’s in school. My mom did not take the time to help me with my schoolwork. Yet she chose to tutor one of the neighbor children with his, because he was struggling as well. During this time in my life, I was molested by my stepdad. When I told my mom, she did not believe me, until she was forced to talk to my sister who had also been molested. I was also molested by a few of the boys in the neighborhood, but I never told on them because I was embarrassed. By this time, I felt like it was my fault and no one would care or believe me. I began to think that I was not good enough, for anyone to take the time and effort to help. I felt I would never be worth anything. This began a lifetime of struggles in the future. I do not believe that I was successful in this stage of my life. I have always felt that I was inferior especially to my siblings, but also to people in