identity crisis

identity crisis

n.

1. A psychosocial state or condition of disorientation and role confusion occurring especially in adolescents as a result of conflicting internal and external experiences, pressures, and expectations and often producing acute anxiety.

2. An analogous state of confusion occurring in a social structure, such as an institution or a corporation.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

identity crisis - distress and disorientation (especially in adolescence) resulting from conflicting pressures and uncertainty about one's self and one's role in society mental condition, mental state, psychological condition, psychological state - (psychology) a mental condition in which the qualities of a state are relatively constant even though the state itself may be dynamic; "a manic state"