Erik Erikson's stages

     In yesterday's class, we learned about Erik Erikson's stages of human development, and honestly, I found it very interesting.  As I was looking at the stages, I could't help but notice that the first stage is trust vs. Mistrust, an issue that one of my friends really struggles with.  However, the consecutive stages, up until stage 6, are all traits that he outwardly exhibits.  Essentially, this prompted me to wonder how my friend would fit into this theory.  So, I thought of a few possible ways by which this could work... 
   
     My first thought is that perhaps he progressed through these stages, then, due to his recent painful breakup with his girlfriend, may have really taken it to heart, and , in a sense, regressed to stage one while retaining the qualities of the later stages.
    
     I really don't know if this is possible within the context of Erikson's theory, but another theory I came up with is that he, due to his family  situation, may have learned to fake the stages above the one at which he naturally is.  He has actually told me at times that he actually has a lot of trouble socially, and feels like he does not fit in, yet he is quite brilliant at small talk and many people positively love him.  So I suppose that perhaps this ability to falsify what he does not feel could have resulted in him adopting these surface traits to appear healthy while retaining the corresponding insecurities.  However, once again, I am completely unsure if this is possible in the context of Erikson's theory....
    

     Anyhow... Personally, I can't really narrow down my own psychological state to one stage in particular.  To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure they entirely fit me as an individual. I am industrious and hard working, yet I have struggled a lot with insecurity over the years.  However, I feel like I am finally starting to know who I am, and therefore I guess I would be moving into the sixth stage, although I really do show aspects of all three.
   
     In short, I found Erikson's theories fairly accurate and thought provoking.  As a future secondary school teacher, I suppose my question is how do we as teachers help our students to discover who they are, if that is the stage of advancement they are going through at the time?

 Thanks for reading my blog.
-Rachel