Personal growth and development, even accompanied by transformation, is not always a crisis. Personal development, as a kind of development in general, can occur as a result of a wide variety of processes.
The developing production temporarily stopped due to the need to restructure the technological process. Is this a crisis? Not necessary. If this is a planned process and a condition for further growth, then no one will call such a regular moment in the development of an enterprise a crisis, everything is in order and everyone is happy.
The caterpillar freezes into a chrysalis — it has a normal stage of transformation, a natural moment of its growth. It fluttered like a butterfly — it is difficult to call what happened a crisis, no one encountered anyone, there were no acute stages anywhere.
The opinion that personality crises necessarily accompany the growth and development of the individual is nothing more than a myth. Is it possible, in principle, to talk about the personality crises of a small child — a separate and not simple question. L.S. Vygotsky wrote about developmental crises: up to a certain age, each transition to a new stage of personality development is, as a rule, simultaneously a personality crisis. The crisis of three years is a stage in the development of the child, often accompanied by painful processes, the personal ill health of the little man. The child riots, protests, throws tantrums …
When the child is ready for a new relationship, and the parents slow down, the matter will end in a crisis. If adults do not notice that the child is no longer a baby, that he no longer likes lisping, that he wants to have his own corner, his own opinion and, in principle, his rights, then sooner or later the child begins to declare this to his parents in a conflict form. The problematic behavior of a child during periods of so-called age crises is associated not so much with the growth and development of the child, but with the incompetence of his parents.
Observations show that the development of a child from stage to stage may not be accompanied by crisis phenomena, in any case, a lot depends on the atmosphere of the family where the child grows and develops.
As for the life of an adult, the process of his growth and development can go in a completely healthy way, planned, without personal crises. There is no evidence that personality crises are a mandatory component of the life and personal development of every adult. Whether certain stages of development of an already adult personality will be accompanied by personal crises — depression, alcoholism, problematic leaving the family — depends on the degree of readiness of a person for these new stages in his life. A personal crisis is not an indicator of growing up, but a person’s unwillingness to change.
Age crises of children flare up when the child has already changed, is ready for a new relationship — and the parents are slowing down. An adult has age-related crises, when his life changes, new circumstances arise, and the person slows down, is not ready for new life challenges. At the same time, it is a fact that a large number of adults live with a completely infantile worldview and do not consider it necessary to prepare themselves for the future. Naturally, in this case, in a natural way, personality crises await them, becoming age-related crises.
Gail Sheehy suggested that age crises visit modern man every seven years. In a highly simplified form: 16 years old «I’m not small!», 23 years old — «I’m a full-fledged adult», 30 years old — «Dreams of youth are untenable», 37 years old — mid-life crisis, Death loomed, and so on … See →
Personality crises can be viewed as a certain stage in the development of a personality, however, studies show that a positive assessment of the results of a crisis for a person (rethinking life, opening up new horizons) is a rather rare thing, no more than 5%. More effectively, an adult develops not through crises, but in a healthy, planned way. It is more preferable to develop not a positive attitude towards personal crises, but to orient people towards positive motivation in their personal growth and development. See →