ABSTRACT
Every youth's behavior is their best attempt to meet one or more of the five basic needs common to all human kind: survival, love and belonging, power and achievement, fun, and freedom. An identity crisis occurs when well-meaning parents and professionals try to remove what they perceive to be injurious or harmful without considering alternative ways the youth can meet his or her basic needs. The importance of each of the needs varies for every youth depending on his or her culture, experiences, situation, and personality. Self-awareness is important that they have a sense of own cultural identity and examine their biases, prejudices, and beliefs about persons who are both similar and different from ourselves. Solution-focused therapists generally only explore the past to identify and build on past successes.
