Dr. Daniel Shore
"The Cartographer" — Psychosocial Development
About This Mentor
Dr. Shore works in the tradition of Psychosocial Development Theory, a framework developed by Erik Erikson that maps human life as a journey through eight stages, each presenting its own crisis and opportunity for growth. Sessions help you locate yourself on that map, understanding past stages, navigating the present one, and preparing for what lies ahead.
Inspired by the tradition of Erik Erikson.
About Psychosocial Development Theory
Erik Erikson's theory of psychosocial development, published in Childhood and Society (1950), proposed that human personality develops through eight stages from infancy to old age. Each stage presents a central conflict or "crisis" that must be navigated: trust versus mistrust in infancy, identity versus role confusion in adolescence, generativity versus stagnation in middle adulthood, and so on.
Unlike Freud, who focused primarily on childhood, Erikson extended developmental theory across the entire lifespan, arguing that growth and crisis continue well into old age. His concept of the "identity crisis" entered everyday language and remains one of psychology's most widely recognized ideas.
Erikson's framework offers a powerful lens for understanding where you are in life, what challenges are natural to your stage, and what unresolved conflicts from earlier stages might still be shaping your experience. It normalizes struggle as part of development rather than evidence of failure.
Related Mentors
These mentors also explore themes of meaning & growth:
- Dr. Samuel Hale — Person-Centered Therapy
- Dr. Leo Sauer — Logotherapy
Begin a Session
Ready to explore where you are on life's map? Start a conversation with Dr. Shore.