Erikson

I am a huge fan of Erik Erikson and I think his psychosocial theory explains how some personality disorders are formed. He mentions that throughout our lifetime we are faced with eight distinct, yet overlapping crises, the first being basic trust v. mistrust, the last being integrity v. despair, which we will go back and forth on until we successfully complete each stage. He gives both the strengths and weaknesses of each challenge and informs us that each crises must be accomplished positively in order to gain the ultimate "prize" of wisdom. James Marcia later went through and tweaked Erikson's theory with four identity statuses: diffusion (a person does little to accomplish the task of forming an identity due to being overwhelmed with the task), foreclosure (a person's identity is determined by someone else), moratorium (a person examines various identities and hasn't yet found one satisfactory) and achievement. Maslow's needs-based motivation theory correlates with Erikson's. Maslow also states that to be self-actualized, one must become a person of high character. Maslow states that only a rare few actually become self-actualized and I think only a few more actually become wise. High character doesn't come from ambiguity or apathy. One must truly care about themselves and others to achieve it. If one falls on the negative side of each crises, neither wisdom nor self-actualization can occur. I think that a person must overcome all the negatives to defeat their personality disorders, which is not an easy feat, especially on the matter of trusting others.
For many years I believed that as long as a person became self-aware, as opposed to self-deceived, one would be truly wise. This makes sense in it's own warped way, but it is a falsehood. According to the great ones, we must not be self-centered but extend ourselves to others.
I've got a lot of work to do on myself.