Attachment and authenticity experiences were discussed as the building blocks of youth identity crisis. It was proposed that recognizing these central themes as the two greatest needs of young people would be the first practical step towards advocating for the youth in crisis.

1. A presentation by VICTOR COUNTED at
the Youth, Health and Practical Justice
conference, University of New South
Wales, Australia (4 – 5 Dec. 2016)
WE ARE ANXIOUS BUT AUTHENTIC:
Youth Identity Crisis and the internal
conflict with the divine and self
Contact: v.counted@westernsydney.edu.au

2. WE ARE ANXIOUS
BUT AUTHENTIC
Youth identity crisis and
the internal conflict with
the Divine and self
PAGE 1
WE ARE ANXIOUS BUT AUTHENTIC BY VICTOR COUNTED

3. Young people have two main needs:
attachment and authenticity.
When young people feel abandoned and
betrayed by those who are supposed to be
there for them, they often enter into a cycle
of identity crisis, trying to stay true to who
they are in order to deal with their
relationship problems.
WE ARE ANXIOUS BUT AUTHENTIC BY VICTOR COUNTED
PAGE 2

4. PAGE 3
WE ARE ANXIOUS BUT AUTHENTIC BY VICTOR COUNTED
1. ATTACHMENT
➔ Parent-child relationship
Attachment starts from a parent-child
bonding experience.
➔ Internal working models
Representation of self, others, and the
world around us.
➔ Substitute attachment figures
A reliable human or non-human partner
that is perceived as a safe haven, secure
base, target for closeness, response to
pain/loss of loved one, e.g. romantic
partner, friend, a Divine entity, place, etc.
tips

5. PAGE 4
WE ARE ANXIOUS BUT AUTHENTIC BY VICTOR COUNTED
2. AUTHENTICITY
➔ Staying true to one’s self
Relationship struggles with attachment figures
are stumbling blocks to staying true to self
➔ Authenticity, Congruity, & self-regulation
Staying true to self is attained via navigating
between our primary experience, symbolized
awareness, and outward behaviours - the pursuit
for self-actualisation
tips

6. Some empirical results
AGI-Anxiety and
AS-Self
Alienation
(r = .279, p<.01). 7%
commonality.
AGI-Avoidance
and AS-Self
Alienation
(r = .204, p<.05). 4% of
common variance.
AGI-Anxiety and
AS-Accepting
External
Influences
(r = .324, p<.01). 10% of
variance.
#QUAN
Tip
Attachment was measured using
the Attachment to God Inventory.
Assesses attachment dimensions of
anxiety (48%) and avoidance (35%).
Tip
Authenticity Scale was used to
measure dimensions of authenticity:
Authentic Living (24 %),
Self-alienation (11%), Accepting
external influences (13%).
positive
(α = .806)
100 SOUTH AFRICAN YOUTHS
PAGE 5
WE ARE ANXIOUS BUT AUTHENTIC BY VICTOR COUNTED

7. Some empirical results
THE SELF CONFLICT
- From an attachment contagion to a
cycle of weak self-integration
- The Borderline Self (Masterson,
1976): self defense using
unnecessary tantrums (acting out)
to fight an imploding att. crisis
- The Promissory Self (Moltmann,
1976): an emerging sense of
promise and a response to a hurtful
future/past
- The Hyphenated Self (Jeroncic,
2014): manifesting positive, cut and
paste images of themselves
- The Religious Self (Muck, 1998): a
sense of spiritual maturity and an
indicator of spirituality and religious
life.
(For more insights read: Counted 2016)
THE DIVINE CONFLICT
- Attachment with a Divine entity
replaces parental attachment and
compensates for a dysfunctional
relationship
- Insecure attachment with the
Divine (e.g. anxiety with God)
linked to the attachment
behavioural system (internal
working models)
- There is a sudden need for
spiritual maturity
- Experience with the Divine or an
attachment figure shadows how
they stay true to themselves
- Negative attachment experience
with relational figures plunges the
youth into a cycle of self-splitting
(For more read: Counted 2016a, 2016b)
#QUAL
15 SOUTH AFRICAN YOUTHS PAGE 6
WE ARE ANXIOUS BUT AUTHENTIC BY VICTOR COUNTED

8. ADVOCATING FOR JUSTICE
FOR THE YOUTH IN CRISIS: As practical
as practical can be...
1. Let's acknowledge the harm caused to
those abused as a child by their primary
caregivers
2. Let’s fight unhealthy and abusive
parental attachments together
- Let’s start from the family...one parent at a time
3. A more focused attention on the
consequences of attachment
abandonment
4. Juxtaposition and the Power of Two
(Donald Capps)
○ Ask questions,
○ develop the art of listening,
○ reframe their stories to empower the
abused youth not to live in fear
some
IDEASRecognising that
attachment and
authenticity are
the two greatest
needs of young
people is the first
practical step
towards
advocating for
the youth in crisis
PAGE 7

9. Thank you
for your attention!!!
VICTOR COUNTED
School of Social Sciences and Psychology
Western Sydney University
v.counted@westernsydney.edu.au

10. CITED WORKS / BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and Loss. Vol. 1: Attachment. London: The Hogarth Press and The Institute of
Psycho-Analysis
Bowlby, J. (1979). The making and breaking of affectional bonds. London: Tavistock.
Counted, V. (2016). ‘Being Authentic is the New Image: A Qualitative Study on the Authenticity Constructions and
Self-images of Christian Millennials in Africa.’ Mental health, Religion, and Culture, 19:3, pp.268–294
Counted, V. (2016a). ‘God as an Attachment Figure: A Case Study of the God Attachment Language and God
Concepts of Anxiously Attached Christian Youths in South Africa.’ Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health, Vol 18
(4), pp.316-346.
Counted, V. (2016b). ‘The psychology of youth faith formation: A Care-giving Faith?’ Journal of Youth and
Theology, 15 (2), pp.146-172
Counted, V. & A. Moustafa (in press). Between God and Self: Measuring the Attachment to God and
Authenticity/Inauthenticity Tendencies of South African Christian Youths. Mental Health, Religion, and Culture
Counted, V. (forthcoming book). Finding God Without Losing Yourself: Resolving the internal conflict with God and
self.
Granqvist, P., & Kirkpatrick, L. A. (2008). ‘Attachment and religious representations and behavior.’ In J Cassidy & P.
R. Shaver(Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (2nd ed., pp. 906-933). New
York: Guilford.
Jeroncic, A. (2014). ‘‘Weak’ Self-Integration: Jürgen Moltmann’s Anthropology and the ‘Postmodern Self’’. The
Heythrop Journal LV, pp. 244-255
Masterson, J. F. (1976). Psychotherapy of the Borderline Adult. New York: Brunner/Mazel
Muck, T.C. (1998). ‘After selfhood: constructing the religious self in a post-self age.’ Journal of Evangelical
Theological Studies
Moltmann, J. (1976). ‘Who is Man?’ in Human Identity in Christian Faith, ed. M. Douglas Meeks. Stanford: Stanford
University Press
Pehr Granqvist, Mario Mikulincer, Phillip R Shaver (2010). Religion as attachment: Normative processes and
individual differences. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 14 (1) pp.49.59
Rokach, A (1997). ‘Relations of perceived causes and the experience of loneliness.’ Psychol Rep. 80(3 Pt
2):1067-74.
Schweitzer, Carol L. Schnabl (2016). Juxtaposition or Bthe Powers of Two^: A Tribute to Donald Capps in
Conversation with Oliver Sacks. Pastoral Psychology (2016) 65:835–848
Wood, A. M., P.A. Linley, J. Maltby, M. Baliousis, S. Joseph (2008). ‘The authentic personality: A theoretical and
empirical conceptualization and the development of the Authenticity Scale.’ Journal of Counselling
Psychology, 55, 385-399. doi: 10.1037/0022-0167.55.3.385
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