An Unexpected War of Ages: Clinical Issues and Conflicts Related to Young and Middle Adult Development

ABSTRACT

This article examines the life-long process of separation–individuation, as it evolves within our social context, through young adult and middle adult stages of life. The various ways are explored in which the strivings of each individual toward achieving developmental milestones create conflicts with the other. These dynamics are illustrated through the use of disguised vignettes. Names, locations, ethnic backgrounds, and other information have been changed to maintain confidentiality.

KEYWORDS:

• Separation–individuation
• autonomy
• development

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Barbara Berger

Barbara Berger, PhD, is a clinical social worker in a full-time private practice in Chicago and on the faculty and Board of Trustees at the Institute for Clinical Social Work, Chicago, Illinois. She is an editor for the Clinical Social Work Journal and The Psychoanalytic Social Work Journal. Dr. Berger has served as past president of the American Association for Psychoanalysis and Clinical Social Work and a past chair of the Social Work Academy in the National Academies of Practice. She was elected as a Distinguished Practitioner in 2002, received the award for Distinguished Service from the Institute for Clinical Social Work in 2012, and The Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Association for Psychoanalysis in Clinical Social Work in 2013.