Joan Erikson

Moves to Vienna and the United States Joan moved to Vienna to conduct dance research for her doctoral dissertation and there met her husband-to-be Erik Homburger, who was working at a progressive school started by Anna Freud. Joan and Erik married in 1930. Joan persuaded Erik to move to the United States three years later ("to escape European fascism"), where they became citizens in 1939. The Eriksons spent time at Harvard and Yale Universities, and then moved to the University of California at Berkeley. Judith Wallerstein, a longtime friend, said that "to her husband, Joan was always bigger than life. Far beyond the lovely and loving woman he married, she represented to him all women–the very essence of the feminine ideals of beauty, compassion, nurturance, and strength."

In 1944, Joan gave birth to a fourth child, Neil, who was born with Down's Syndrome and was immediately institutionalized.

Death Joan died on August 3, 1997, in a nursing home in Brewster, Massachusetts, three years after the death of her husband, Erik.

Education and professional accomplishments Joan obtained an undergraduate degree from Barnard College and a master's from Teachers College, Columbia University. She completed doctorate course work before moving to Europe to conduct research for a dance dissertation. After meeting husband Erik Erikson, Joan stopped research for her dissertation and took a job at the progressive school in Vienna, where he was working.

Joan and Erik later returned to Harvard, where they taught classes together at the Joan and Erik Erikson Center.

Psychosocial development Joan Erikson was the main collaborator in developing the eight stages of psychosocial development with her husband Erik Erikson. Despite often being overlooked, her contributions were crucial: Erik admitted being unable to distinguish between his own contribution and his wife's. Joan had a great influence on the development of the stages and on the inclusion of the eighth stage. For example, elderly adults confronting increasing physical and mental declines may lose trust in their own ability to care for themselves. They are facing a crisis similar to the trust vs. mistrust experienced in stage one.

Joan Erikson believed that during the ninth stage, older adults can shift towards a more transcendent perspective, which increases life satisfaction. She describes transcendence as regaining skills such as play, activity, and song. Most importantly, it means moving beyond fear of death.

Often during this time, individuals are put into retirement communities and assisted living facilities, which Joan believed was isolating them from society and from youth. She believed that "aging is a process of becoming free" In particular, the work of James E. Marcia on adolescence and identity supports Erikson’s crisis of adolescence.

Art therapy Joan Erikson believed that the arts possess their own healing properties and can be used as an exclusive form of therapy. She believed that people's artwork should not be psychoanalyzed or interpreted but should be used solely for healing through creative process. Older adults have identified physical, cognitive, emotional, and social benefits from play. Retirement can be a major adjustment for some older adults, particularly if work has become a large part of how they identify themselves.