ABSTRACT
As a clinical psychologist and a psychotherapist, I have three criteria for the value of a concept: it should be definable and measurable so that it yields predictions within a scientific hypothesis-testing context; it should be part of a fairly complex and internally consistent theoretical framework so that overall understanding of human nature is increased; and, finally, it should be useful for psychotherapy. Hence, in this paper I shall be discussing some of the empirical, theoretical and psychotherapeutic implications of the identity status approach to the study of identity development.
