ABSTRACT
The adult developmental perspective is based on the fact that experience in adulthood is not reducible to factors in childhood even if the latter have had a decisive effect on personality formation. Experiences in adulthood have their own imperatives that offer their own opportunities for personality growth. Beginning in Childhood and Society , and continuing in his later biographical studies, Erik Erikson elaborated on his central contribution to contemporary thought—the concept of ego identity as a developmental achievement. Erikson’s work on identity remains a seminal contribution to the psychology of occupational choice. The choice of an occupation represents an impressive synthesis of the defensive style and the sublimatory capacity, counter-identification and identification, even a creative working through of the early trauma. Confusion about career choice and conflict over ambition itself are common issues in the treatment of young adult patients.
