Life is never easy for anyone, but it is especially more difficult during adolescence. Period during which the person is no longer considered a child, but not quite an adult. Erik Erikson had many ideas about this period and focuses on the term identity diffusion. Rebecca Fraser-Thill describes this when she writes: “The diffusion of identity is a step in the process of finding a sense of self. It refers to a period in which an individual does not have an established identity and is not actively seeking one. In other words, it is a period where a person's identity remains unresolved, but there is no identity crisis (called an identity moratorium).” (Fraser-Thill, 2011) Erikson was able to carefully recognize the intrinsic components of the concept of identity diffusion. James Joyce's text, The Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man, can be applied to his analysis when Joyce begins to grow up. According to Erik Erikson, the four major works of identity diffusion include intimacy, time perspective diffusion, industry diffusion and finally negative identity which also applies to Stephen Dedalus from Joyce's book . First, Erikson's description of intimacy's part in the problem Identity diffusion is clearly described and evident in many adolescents, such as Dedalus in Joyce's book. According to John C. Coleman's text, The Nature of Adolescence, he writes: “First there is the problem of intimacy. Here, the individual may fear engaging or being involved in close interpersonal relationships due to the possible loss of their own identity. Not being able to decide what type of person these teens want to become hinders their ability to connect with another person. Doug Davis expands on this point in middle of paper......tion.Cherry, Kendra. “Identity versus confusion.” About.com. About.com, 2014. Web. May 5, 2014. identity-against-confusion.htm>. This provided excellent information. Davis, Doug. “Erikson’s Scenes.” Haverford University. HU, 1995. Web. May 5, 2014. erikson.stages.html>. This provided excellent information.Fraser-Thill, Rebecca. “Defining Identity Diffusion.” About.com. About.com, March 18. 2011. Internet. May 5, 2014. behaviordiscipline/a/identity-diffusion.htm>. This provided excellent information.McLeod, Saul. “Erik Erikson.” Simply psychology. Simply Psychology, 2013. Web. May 5, 2014. This provided excellent information.