If you’ve been following my recent posts, you’ve probably noticed I have been thinking about the concept of ‘identity’ quite a bit. I’ve tried to define my concept of identity in relation to self-esteem, trauma, addiction, social media, and issues veterans face in transition to civilian life.

I’ve been trying to use a consistent concept of identity throughout these articles, influenced by Erik Erikson’s characterization of role identity, but I keep coming back to a fundamental problem:

Which role identities are healthy vs. which are unhealthy?

In my article on how self-worth affects identity, I describe the unhealthy ‘hero’ role. This is a role taken up by individuals with a low level of intrinsic self-worth who become perfectionists, attempting to gain self-worth through the external praise of others. I then elaborated how this similar process occurs among codependent caretakers who enable a loved-one’s addiction.

I then applied this model…