A photo of a White person's hand covered in a multitude of paint colours to represent the topic of the article - Identity Crisis: What Happens When Our Identity Is Unstable?

Identity Crisis: What Happens When Our Identity Is Unstable?

If we have an unstable identity, such as someone not coming to terms with their gender identity, sexuality, or in my case, their ethnicity, then that can be a breeding ground for mental health issues. My issues with my ethnicity, because of relentless racial abuse as a child, left me struggling with an identity crisis right into my twenties. I still have some lingering issues with it from time to time to this day, even though I’m in my forties now.

 

 

What Is Identity

 

Having an identity helps define who we are, and who we see ourselves as being. This can encompass our values, beliefs, and our personality (Harley Therapy). Our identity can be made up of the roles we play in life, such as parent, manager, and helper, but can also be heavily affected by our past, especially trauma.

 

Much like I outlined in my glow up and finding meaning and purpose articles, our identity can also be influenced by our hobbies. However, the things we identify with can change over time, which can change our identity, which is healthy. Unfortunately, this can sometimes led to an identity crisis, which if unresolved, is unhealthy for us.

 

It can also be argued that a midlife crisis is actually a crisis of identity, just like empty nest syndrome and other drastic life-changing events such as a loss of a loved one. In fact, the Healthline have argued just that, that big changes and life stressors can cause us to question our sense of self and identity, causing an identity crisis to be left unresolved.

 

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How Having An Identity Crisis Can Affect Our Mental Health

 

Starting from a place I know well from personal experience with having an identity crisis, we’ll start with ethnicity. Yip, Gee, and Takeuchi (2008) reported that the research suggests that the stresses endured by ethnic minorities can weaken the protections they have, wearing them down until they break. That’s exactly what happened to me. For a long time, I was able to shrug off and laugh off all my racial abuse, until I couldn’t. Then my identity crisis began. This can be made worse when you don’t feel you fit in with either of your ethnicities.

 

Fernando (1984) goes a step further than just seeing racism as an extra stress for minorities to deal with, but that it should be seen as a pathogen that generates depression. Racism affects self-esteem and causes a loss of self, promoting helplessness, all of which are important for our identity.

 

Now imagine dealing with an ethnic identity crisis, or any identity crisis, before you’ve even started to develop a sense of self. Our childhood and especially our teenage years, are where we develop our unique identity. Thus, instability of our identity during these developmental stages can cause a strong, but negative, identification with our ethnicity (Yip, Gee, and Takeuchi, 2008).

 

For me, all I wanted growing up was to be White, because all my problems came from looking Black. It made no difference that I was both Black and White, because it’s only the Black part of me people can see. It wasn’t until I was in my twenties that I could accept being both Black and White.

 

Adolescents with an unstable racial identity, like me when I was younger, have lower self-esteem (Sanchez, Shih, and Garcia, 2009). I’d put money on it being the same for adolescents with gender and sexual identity issues as well.

 

It’s all well and good to say that you don’t see colour. We get what you’re trying to say, but that’s actually not helpful. Our ethnic groups and skin colour do matter, and they need to be seen because pretending you don’t means the injustice doesn’t get resolved.

 

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In an ideal world, a mixed-ethnicity child would have a family that tries to help them be positivity connected to their mixed-ethnicity background (Greig, 2013), because ethnicity is just a social construct in the first place. We’re all human. My mum made no effort to understand, support, or help in any way with dealing with the racial abuse I was suffering. And on top of that, I had my mum telling me that I ruined her life by being born. No wonder I had attachment problems and developed BPD.

 

If the parents of a mixed-ethnicity child can’t provide the support, they need to avoid an identity crisis, then they need to make sure someone else can (Greig, 2013). This is just as important as other mental health and wellbeing lessons our children need to be taught about.

 

Feelings of rejection from one’s ethnic heritage often come from the perceived inability to fit into discrete, monolithic ethnic categories (Campion, 2019). We have society and the media to blame for that. When you’re a Black person living in a very White society, you get schooled in a very specific way they perceive Black and other ethnic groups to be. All Black men are thugs was something I grew up with.

 

This has been so ingrained in me during my childhood that I can still hear that voice telling me that when I’m around other Black men. I know it’s all bullshit, but the indoctrination has left its mark on me. It’s also why I worry about being Black in many White spaces. I worry I’ll scare White people just by existing near them, which is a weird way to live.

 

One thing I hate about society is their double standard, which even my partner falls into. People are fine with me saying whatever I want about my Black identity because everyone sees me as Black. However, I’m not afforded the same flexibility to say whatever I want about my White identity, without some people taking offence, even though I’m as much White as I am Black. I’m frequently denied my White heritage, simply because I don’t look White.

 

Another thing I hate is that on ethnic identity forms, especially when everything is listed alphabetically, that my mixed-ethnicity title always has White before Black, even though no one sees me as White. I also hate the term race, as we’re not different races, we’re the same.

 

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Racial impostor syndrome, a little like traditional imposter syndrome, is a very real thing for a lot of people (NPR), myself included. Just like people can feel like they’re a fraud at work, people can feel fake regarding their ethnic heritage. I know I did and still do at times. Not feeling or being Black enough was a problem I’ve always had, especially with the way I dress.

 

But what started my road to a stable identity had nothing to do with me being Black, White, or a mix of the two. It was my self-identification as a metalhead. My love for metal music and goth aesthetics saved my life. This led to my acceptance of my mixed ethnicity.

 

One of the reasons people can feel like they’re not accepted because of their mixed-ethnicity is because of issues around colourism in some communities (Campion, 2019). However, I’ve not experienced this first-hand myself, but I’ve often felt that way, nonetheless.

 

The emotional neglect and the racial abuse I endured as a child led to my development of borderline personality disorder (BPD). The attachments I lacked with my mother, the non-existent father, and no peers to counter that lack of parental attachment meant I became a people-pleaser. I changed who I was to try to get people to like me.

 

As I think I’ve made clear, children need a healthy attachment with a primary caregiver if you want to give them the best chance at life (Harley Therapy). Not having that healthy attachment growing up can impact everything that comes afterwards.

 

Changing who we are to try to be accepted is a very common problem reported by people with BPD (Harley Therapy). The unstable nature of this mental health condition isn’t just about having strong emotional reactions but also links to a lack of identity. Although BPD can present differently for different people, I would hypothesise that most people with BPD have unresolved identity issues they need help with. If you’re struggling with an identity crisis, then, of course, your emotions are going to be stronger and more difficult to manage.

 

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While I was attending group therapy for people with BPD, there was another client in the group who had unresolved issues with their sexual identity. Their issues were so similar to my past identity crisis because of my ethnicity that you could swap our identity issues and our stories would still make sense.

 

The client in question, and the group therapist, didn’t seem to clock this as being the root cause of their BPD. Which was one of the reasons I don’t like group therapy. Our stories were so similar that their BPD should have improved significantly if they were able to come to terms with their sexual identity, just like it did for me and my ethnicity.

 

One of the first articles I wrote for my blog was about one man’s battle with bulimia. Bulimia is one of the conditions that is most associated with identifying as being female, or at least it was. However, as this article showed, men have it too. In fact, it was something I’ve suffered from too, and talked about having this when I wrote about using Beat’s live chat service to get support from this eating disorder charity.

 

The reason I decided to talk to Beat was because I’d watched a documentary on BBC One about how Freddie Flintoff is living with bulimia. For those of you who don’t know, Freddie Flintoff is a former English cricketer and current Top Gear presenter.

 

Because people tend to see bulimia as a problem only women suffer from, it can cause issues for male sufferers, which was clearly stated in the article, One Man’s Battle With Bulimia I discussed. This can cause people to question their identity, as their concerns are being dismissed without support, because they don’t meet the outdated gender requirement to have this mental health condition. This is why I talk about my issues with my eating disorders.

 

A big part of having positive mental health is the sense of control we have in our lives. Therefore, a loss of control over how we self-identify is going to have a negative effect our mental health (Sanchez, 2010).

 
 
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Signs You’re Experiencing An Identity Crisis

 
 
  • If you’re questioning who you are, for whatever reason, such as a change in circumstances or your sexuality, then this could be a sign that your sense of identity is in a state of flux.
  • If you’re experiencing issues because of personal conflict regarding your struggle to find meaning or purpose in life, then you could be experiencing an identity crisis.
  • If you’re going through a big chance, such as getting married, getting divorced, becoming a parent, developing a health issue, or losing your job. Then this can put you at risk of developing an identity issue.
  • It’s healthy to question your values, such as during your glow up or journaling, but it depends on how you came to question your values. So, if you’re questioning things like your values, beliefs, interests, or career, then you could be heading towards an identity crisis.

 

The picture is split in two, with the top image being of a Black persons hands wrapped in the LGBT rainbow colours. The bottom image being of a pile of Lego minifigure heads. The two images are separated by the article title - Identity Crisis: What Happens When Our Identity Is Unstable?

 

Summary

 

There are a lot of variables that can affect our identity. Mine started with my ethnic identity due to how people saw me as a child. But I still have issues around my identity when I’m trying to live up to my meaning in life. But people could easily find themselves questioning their identity when they lose someone close to them, experience trauma, or just lack a sense of meaning to live by.

 

So what happens when our identity is unstable? Well, that depends. If we can quickly resolve our identity issues then nothing much will happen. That’s because our identity changes a lot over the course of our lives. However, if left unresolved or if they happen during our developmental stages, then this can have far-reaching effects on our mental health and wellbeing.

 

But don’t worry, just as easily as you can question your identity, you can find a new one, because life is about change, and your identity will change as you grow, both literally and figuratively. That’s why I wrote about having a glow-up and finding meaning over the last couple of weeks.

 

As always, leave your feedback in the comments section below. Also, please share your experiences with having an identity crisis in the comments section below as well. Don’t forget, if you want to stay up-to-date with my blog, then sign up for my newsletter below. Alternatively, get push notifications for new articles by clicking the red bell icon in the bottom right corner.

 

Lastly, if you’d like to support my blog, you can make a donation of any size below. Until next time, Unwanted Life readers.

 

 

References

 

Campion, K. (2019). “You think you’re Black?” Exploring Black mixed-race experiences of Black rejection. Ethnic and Racial Studies42(16), 196-213. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01419870.2019.1642503.

Fernando, S. (1984). Racism as a cause of depression. The International journal of social psychiatry30(1-2), 41–49. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/002076408403000107 and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6706494.

Greig, A. (2013). Seven essential facts about multiracial youth. American Psychological Association. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/pi/families/resources/newsletter/2013/08/multiracial-youth.

Sanchez, D. T. (2010). How do forced‐choice dilemmas affect multiracial people? The role of identity autonomy and public regard in depressive symptoms. Journal of Applied Social Psychology40(7), 1657-1677. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2010.00634.x.

Sanchez, D. T., Shih, M., & Garcia, J. A. (2009). Juggling multiple racial identities: malleable racial identification and psychological well-being. Cultural diversity & ethnic minority psychology15(3), 243–254. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014373 and https://www.researchgate.net/publication/26663128_Juggling_Multiple_Racial_Identities_Malleable_Racial_Identification_and_Psychological_Well-Being.

Yip, T., Gee, G. C., & Takeuchi, D. T. (2008). Racial discrimination and psychological distress: the impact of ethnic identity and age among immigrant and United States-born Asian adults. Developmental psychology44(3), 787–800. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.44.3.787 and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2735246.

16 thoughts on “Identity Crisis: What Happens When Our Identity Is Unstable?

  1. A deeply interesting and informative article and I thank you for sharing. I totally agree with you with the term race, we are all human, regardless of colour, I have never understood that. While I have not experienced your racially abusive disconnection, I have had my own form of social unacceptance due to my mind and how I see the world, and this has caused me mental health problems. As you say, it starts when we are young, and it can take years to come to terms with or to find an answer for, sometimes this never happens. I believe that writing like this is a huge step forward, both for you and for the reader, awareness is the first step, and then asking questions; and I wish you well for 2023.

    • Thank you. For me and I imagine a lot of people, our developmental stages are where we’re most at risk of an identity crisis, which is why these are opportune times for outside manipulation, because of that risk. But there are crisis points in our lives where this can also happen. thanks for sharing your thoughts. Happy New Year

  2. I watched top gear but didnt his name. Honestly, I’ve had some friends who stress a lot because of the racism. It definitely can affect our mental health a lot. Great read!

  3. I love your thoughts on how, when something generally affects people in a certain group, people suffering from it outside of that accepted group have trouble finding the treatment, help, or support they need. Thank you also for sharing a great list of signs to look out for in an identity crisis. Happy new year! 🙂

  4. This article was so deep. I believe every single one of us at one point in life will question our identity.

  5. I am so sorry you experienced that awful abuse when you were younger. I can understand how it can affect your mental health. I never really thought about my sexuality identity affecting my mental health but actually if I sit and think I can pick out things in my own life. Thank you for sharing this post.

    Lauren x

  6. Thank you for sharing your experiences and views on identity crisis. It’s something we can and most of us will face, but on quite different levels. The way you describe it with your childhood, family and racism has made a big impact on me. Racism plays still a big role in our society and it shouldn’t, since we are all human. As a white male, it is a moment for me to listen and learn, to hear how my fellow human beings are experiencing our society. One point that hit home, was the fact that you mention that not seeing color isn’t the way to go. From what I got is that it we should see the color, the heritage, and background and see he beauty in it. Accepting the whole, rather than shutting our mind for parts. This is something I’ll never forget and will take with me as I’m going forward. If I got it wrong, please tell me.

    • You’ve got it right. Our differences are what makes us unique, so why would we want to pretend like those differences don’t exist. The other problem with pretending that the differences don’t exist is that we make it harder to understand people who are different to us, which can lead to problems getting worse, not better. Thanks for reading and for commenting

  7. Great post showing how an identity crisis can develop and how our societal problems enhance them because of racial or sexual difference. These highlighted beautifully through personal experiences. Thank you for sharing them with us. I’ve learned a great deal from it

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