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In accordance with the author's epigenetic model of maturation, in which ego interests such as hope and will are connected with psychosocial needs and correlated with phases of psychosexual development, the importance of fidelity in the ego maturation of the adolescent is discussed. Erikson uses the case of Dora to illustrate Freud's failure to discriminate between the need of the patient's developing ego for actuality when she confronted her parents with the historical facts of their behavior, and his insistence that she deal only with the unconscious repressed reality behind her symptoms. Dora's neurosis was rooted in the crisis of adolescence, and her emphasis on historical truth was an adaptive pattern genuine for her stage in life.
At each point of development what appears to be 'acting out' may contain an adaptive, if immature, reaching out for experience to verify the ego's expectant trend and growth. Insight into the inner realities must then be experienced only within the assessment of the historical truth. The need for fidelity is necessary for the adolescent to achieve self-identity.