Understanding Identity in Mental Health at the Austen Riggs Center

At the Austen Riggs Center, identity is central to how we understand and support human development. We build on the foundational work of Erik Erikson, who emphasized that identity forms within and across the context of a person’s life cycle and sociocultural environment. Erikson (1950) described identity continuity—the sense that we are the same person over time—as essential for psychological well-being.

More recently, Pasupathi (2014) outlined three vital elements of identity:

People often come to Riggs when they're facing questions like: “Who am I?” or “How did I become this version of myself?” This search for a core sense of self may follow a psychiatric crisis—such as a first psychotic episode—or may arise from a deeper sense of emptiness or disconnection.

Your social identity is shaped by the time, culture, and family system into which you were born. It includes elements such as:

At Riggs, we explore your sociocultural identity by taking a detailed multigenerational family history and conducting a comprehensive psychosocial assessment. We seek to understand the values and dynamics that shaped your identity—both consciously and unconsciously—and how you relate to those aspects today. Our Therapeutic Community Program also offers a way for you to learn how you engage in social groups and how you are seen by others, which can deepen your understanding of your social context and social identity. 

Your personal identity reflects how you see yourself internally: your personality traits, physical appearance, skills, hobbies, goals, and values. Through individual psychotherapy and psychological testing, we explore your unique perspective and the ways you relate to yourself and others. This helps us understand how you’ve come to define who you are—and what that identity means to you.

Our identities are not just lists of traits—they're stories we tell ourselves. According to personality psychologists McAdams & McLean (2013), we create a narrative identity to make sense of our past, understand our present, and imagine our future. 

At Riggs, patients spend the first six weeks of their treatment sharing their life story with their therapist and other mental health professionals. This narrative process helps uncover how trauma, memory, and social influences have shaped a person’s view of self. Some arrive with a fragmented or missing story, signaling identity diffusion or a loss of narrative due to trauma. Others may feel stuck in a story told by someone else—often their family members—and want to reclaim authorship over their own life. Constructing a robust and flexible narrative identity can allow you to gain greater perspective on the patterns of your life and enable you to make meaning as you move towards your future goals.

Many of our patients have long histories of mental health conditions and treatment in the mental health system and carry identities shaped by diagnoses, medications, and therapy experiences. At Riggs, we help patients examine how they see their psychiatric challenges and pay attention to the possible impact of stigma of shame on someone’s sense of self. While a diagnosis can be informative, we work to ensure that it does not become the sole definition of who a person is.

Identity development is complex, contextual, and deeply personal. It cannot be reduced to a single label, story, or trait. At the Austen Riggs Center, we honor the diversity and complexity of identity. Our treatment approach is built on helping individuals discover:

We believe that fostering a cohesive identity is essential for lasting mental health and personal fulfillment.

Ready to explore your identity in a deeper, more meaningful way?
The journey to understanding yourself doesn’t have to be taken alone. At the Austen Riggs Center, we’re here to walk with you as you rediscover your story and reclaim your sense of self.