In developmental psychology, we repeatedly encounter a paradox: how can the body, environment, and social roles around us continually change while our sense of being the same person remains relatively continuous?
Change is external and inevitable. Psychological health, however, is not simply the result of change; it is also the result of regulation.
In Rineke Dijkstra’s photographic series Almerisa, we can observe a process that extends beyond visible physical growth. The images invite us to consider the mind’s active work of integrating new experiences into an ongoing structure of identity.
When a person regulates change, they are in effect building a bridge between the self of yesterday and the self of today. This continuity can function as an anchor of psychological stability.
A psychologically flexible self does not deny change. Instead, it integrates change in a way that allows a sense of identity to remain coherent while still evolving.
Change without regulation can become destabilizing; regulated change can become identity formation.
