Personal Development Plan - Coursework Example

1) Were you an early, on-time, or late-maturing adolescent? In what ways, if any, did you physical development have on your adjustment and your relationships (peer; family)? In what ways were impacted by the "moodiness" of adolescents and how (if at all) did it influence your relationships I believe I was a late-maturing adolescent. It was until age sixteen that I started noticing the changes my body was going through. Most vividly, I remember my struggle with acne at the age of seventeen. I had seen many of my friends struggle with pimples; but my case was severe and I considered myself badly disfigured. I spent a lot of time in front of the mirror assessing the level to which the scars on my face were extending from the face to the neck area. This made me angry almost at all times and avoided people; feeling contemptuous. At home, I wanted to be alone; doing homework, facing the mirror or staring outside the window. However, I became closer to my mum and wanted reassurance from her in almost everything I engaged in. Even in class; I barely concentrated. I lost about 20 pounds in just two months since I was not able to eat well. By the time I made up my mind and accepted to see a doctor, I had become both mentally and physically sick. I barely spent time with any of my friends; I thought I had become ugly and no one wanted to spend time with me. When I went to see the doctor, I was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety disorder and clinical depression alongside Acne Vulgaris. The doctor prescribed anti-depressants for my condition accompanied by counseling sessions; after two weeks, although the marks were still resilient on my face, I was able to face my friends and spend more time with my family. However, I thought I would be exposed to humiliation and isolation from my friends. When I told them how I felt, most would say that I was doing myself no good over worrying something that would eventually disappear. I learnt that the situation was not as bad as I had imagined. However, I did not stop staring at the mirror, nor did the Acne become better. I still felt somehow a failure, ugly and unwanted. To hide my bitterness and shame I acquired some ‘fake’ self-esteem. I would participate in almost all events and go partying with my friends; but deep inside I felt like an outcast. My grades did not deteriorate; so everyone thought I was fine and all-rounded as usual. From the developmental theories learnt, it was alright for me to behave that way, given the stage I was in. with respect to James Marcia’s Identity Development Theory, I was definitely in the identity diffusion status (Stephen et.al, 1992). I became like a child attached to my mother for comfort and reassurance. While I thought I knew what I wanted in life and knew the direction I was headed in adulthood. However, given that I had become isolated and withdrawn, it dawned on me that I was lost deep within; not knowing exactly why my life meant; while I thought earlier that I cared more about performance, I realized that I cared more about my looks. I realized that how I looked was so important to me that it defined how I related with friends and relatives. According to Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory, it was evident that I was in the formal operational stage. I was entirely concerned with myself; like I was trying to look for an identity; not knowing who I should be with, who cared about me and who wouldn’t despise me for my looks. Considering Eriksen’s psychosocial stages of development; I could have been in more than one stage; from stage 4 to 6. The fourth stage of industry vs. inferiority; I felt inferior and did not like being around people due to my ugly deformed face. In the fifth stage of Identity vs. Role Confusion; I had nothing to look forward to; I didn’t see the real meaning of my life while I depended upon my mother to feel secure and comfortable. In the sixth stage of Intimacy vs. Isolation, I felt like an outcast for about four months; I couldn’t tell who really cared about me; I didn’t want anyone to know what was going on my mind to I hid in a fake esteem while searching where to belong. 2) Recount examples of the imaginary audience, personal fable, or invincibility fable from your own adolescence. How can reconnecting with your own experience and knowledge of these meta-cognitions help you in counseling an adolescent? In my struggle with Acne; before it disappeared at age eighteen, I recall feeling unwanted, worthless and that everyone was watching me and scrutinizing my ugly face. As a result, I would try using various creams that would hide the Acne. As mentioned earlier, the mirror was my closest companion to keep track of the Acne activity on my face. At one time, I remember finding my friends talking and laughing at the school canteen. When I joined them, the chat and laughter immediately ceased. When I asked what was so funny, one of them said they were talking about a freaky person but it was not important. Later that day, I couldn’t help but think to myself about the incident. Why did they stop talking and laughing when I joined them? Were they talking about my face? Was I the freaky person in their talk? Did they laugh on purpose because they saw me approaching? I even talked to my mum about the incident. She reassured me that my friends cannot talk bad about me and that I was not a freak. More interestingly, given that I have been a fan of movies since a young age, even at the age of eighteen years, I would consider myself as an action hero. I would imagine, based on a movie; how I would act heroic while everyone stood aside to watch me save people or even the world! This is especially from science fiction movies like Xmen and the fantastic four. Moreover, I would find myself showing off and undertaking risky behaviors, assuming that everyone was watching and I would be popular. I never considered that I could cause an accident due to driving fast. I thought accidents were caused by other careless drivers but not me. Even life-threatening events seemed normal to me; I never considered that I could be a victim of cancer due to smoking or even acquiring an STI for unprotected sexual intercourse; all these, I considered were for other people but not me. Also, there were many instances where I would argue with almost everyone because I felt that people did not view things from my perspectives; I would always find myself saying “you don’t understand”; even when I was clearly mistaken. When I reflect back to the situations I found myself in back then, I understand, both from the perspective of a counselor and a client, what counseling an adolescent as far as egocentrism is concerned. For instance, I know that imaginary audiences are in most cases not real. When I thought I was so ugly that no one wanted to be associated with me, none of my friends ever pushed me away. In fact, I was the one isolating myself from them; when I came back, things went on as if nothing had happened. I also did not consider that Acne affects more than 90 percent of adolescents, meaning that contrary to my thoughts, I was not the only one going through the struggle. From a counselor’s viewpoint now, I would ask an adolescent “what kind or type of people do you think are prone to being infected with STIs and even worse, HIV?” “Can an adolescent cause a road accident?” from such perspectives, the adolescent gets to know that they are not as special and unique as they take themselves to be; neither are they invincible. It would also be meaningful, to ask an adolescent to describe how five of the friends they met shortly before a counseling session were dressed, how they looked and noticeable changes. It would most likely occur that there were minimal noticeable things to say hence the imaginary audience and personal fables are more in the mind than in reality. 3) Remember back to the time you were an adolescent. Using Marcia's identity categories, assess your own status in three (you choose) of the following domains: relationships, career, religion, political ideology, ethnicity, particular belief or value, or sexual orientation. Just as I was about to graduate from high school, I had started my own small pizza business. I had performed well but had not even applied for any vacancy at college. I was still living with my parents; not paying any rent or even groceries. My mother kept on asking me what my plans in life were; but honestly, I did not know what I wanted. I was living everyday without any goals or future expectations. All I wanted was to live comfortably without any commitments. Every time my mind wandered towards school, I would shift to other thoughts very fast. While I would have wanted a better job than my part-time pizza business, I never thought about which career suited me best or what I really wanted in life. According to James Marcia’s theory of Identity development, I was going the first of four stages; identity diffusion. Also, this was evident as described in question one; when my Acne was so bad to me that I did not know who to relate with or who cared about me. In fact, at that time, I cared less about who cared or who did not. I finally decided that I would apply for a vacancy at the same college my mother attended; I did not stop to consider whether I really wanted to go to the college, whether there are better options or the reason for my decision. I just thought my mother was okay. I never that my life would be different from my mother because I thought she was just alright. Besides teaching; like mother, I had not considered other available career options. I never contemplate whether the decision made by my mother in her career was good for me. This stage, according to Marcia, is known as identity foreclosure. I also found myself smoking and taking alcohol, using vulgar language and engaging in irresponsible sexual behaviors; not because I wanted to, but because my friends were doing it too. I did not consider the consequences of my behaviors at that time. I cannot forget that despite attending all Sunday worship services with my parents as a child. At age eighteen, I was always arguing with my mother about going to church on Sundays. I would spend much of the time watching movies. I was also concerned about the existence of God; if He was so mighty and powerful as people used to say, how could He allow me to suffer with Acne? I would spend a lot of time on the internet searching various world religions. I would even out of curiosity visit other churches and mosques to see how things are done there. I was not committed to any form of worship but I still felt I was supposed to belong somewhere. This status is described by Marcia as moratorium; the adolescent has less orientation to commitments; but explores more. I cast my vote right when I was allowed to. Before the day of elections, I made sure that I had researched from the internet; the values and beliefs of all the candidates before I cast my vote. I remember my mother strongly endorsing a candidate that I considered ‘old school’ and not trendy. Before voting, I assessed the most important issues to me and then decided who to vote for. Here, I was in the final status of Marcia’s theory; identity achievement. I was, according to the theory, highly committed as well as highly exploratory. I had achieved my status and no longer did things because others were doing them; but because I knew what I wanted with respect to my life goals, values and beliefs. Read More

The fourth stage of industry vs. inferiority; I felt inferior and did not like being around people due to my ugly deformed face. In the fifth stage of Identity vs. Role Confusion; I had nothing to look forward to; I didn’t see the real meaning of my life while I depended upon my mother to feel secure and comfortable. In the sixth stage of Intimacy vs. Isolation, I felt like an outcast for about four months; I couldn’t tell who really cared about me; I didn’t want anyone to know what was going on my mind to I hid in a fake esteem while searching where to belong. 2) Recount examples of the imaginary audience, personal fable, or invincibility fable from your own adolescence.

How can reconnecting with your own experience and knowledge of these meta-cognitions help you in counseling an adolescent? In my struggle with Acne; before it disappeared at age eighteen, I recall feeling unwanted, worthless and that everyone was watching me and scrutinizing my ugly face. As a result, I would try using various creams that would hide the Acne. As mentioned earlier, the mirror was my closest companion to keep track of the Acne activity on my face. At one time, I remember finding my friends talking and laughing at the school canteen.

When I joined them, the chat and laughter immediately ceased. When I asked what was so funny, one of them said they were talking about a freaky person but it was not important. Later that day, I couldn’t help but think to myself about the incident. Why did they stop talking and laughing when I joined them? Were they talking about my face? Was I the freaky person in their talk? Did they laugh on purpose because they saw me approaching? I even talked to my mum about the incident. She reassured me that my friends cannot talk bad about me and that I was not a freak.

More interestingly, given that I have been a fan of movies since a young age, even at the age of eighteen years, I would consider myself as an action hero. I would imagine, based on a movie; how I would act heroic while everyone stood aside to watch me save people or even the world! This is especially from science fiction movies like Xmen and the fantastic four. Moreover, I would find myself showing off and undertaking risky behaviors, assuming that everyone was watching and I would be popular.

I never considered that I could cause an accident due to driving fast. I thought accidents were caused by other careless drivers but not me. Even life-threatening events seemed normal to me; I never considered that I could be a victim of cancer due to smoking or even acquiring an STI for unprotected sexual intercourse; all these, I considered were for other people but not me. Also, there were many instances where I would argue with almost everyone because I felt that people did not view things from my perspectives; I would always find myself saying “you don’t understand”; even when I was clearly mistaken.

When I reflect back to the situations I found myself in back then, I understand, both from the perspective of a counselor and a client, what counseling an adolescent as far as egocentrism is concerned. For instance, I know that imaginary audiences are in most cases not real. When I thought I was so ugly that no one wanted to be associated with me, none of my friends ever pushed me away. In fact, I was the one isolating myself from them; when I came back, things went on as if nothing had happened.

I also did not consider that Acne affects more than 90 percent of adolescents, meaning that contrary to my thoughts, I was not the only one going through the struggle. From a counselor’s viewpoint now, I would ask an adolescent “what kind or type of people do you think are prone to being infected with STIs and even worse, HIV?” “Can an adolescent cause a road accident?” from such perspectives, the adolescent gets to know that they are not as special and unique as they take themselves to be; neither are they invincible.

It would also be meaningful, to ask an adolescent to describe how five of the friends they met shortly before a counseling session were dressed, how they looked and noticeable changes.

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