Yep, I was talking about the WAS' need to feel their guilt and stew in it in order to think about their role (central) in their unhappiness and, to a lesser extent, in their mutual role in the R probs. Most theory on identity formation (Marcia, Erikson) talks about the need for the person to 'go thru the fire' - facing distress, discomfort regarding one's one darkness - in order to come out of this process more fully aware and committed.
It seems like the WAS is running/distracting - doing many things often seen in a moratorium (when a person takes a break from real identity work) or worse - in diffusion (when a person quits identity work indefinitely, with no intent to return; think new R or M, substance abuse, general deterioration). I'm hoping that some of the exploring done in the MLC mode is a revisiting of the adolescent work most of us completed, leading the WAS back to a sounder identity and hopefully, a realization that the LBS was a positive option for them (assuming hard personal work and improvement by the LBS.
