Also it’s sort of common (experiential) knowledge in mental healthcare that addiction just hits the pause button on whatever developmental stage you’re in then sobriety unpauses it and you have to start dealing with whatever psychological stage you were avoiding at the time. So if you start using at 14 then get sober 15 years later you’re gonna be sorting out identity vs role confusion at 30 fucking years old. And the stages are really spaced out as you get older so if you turn into an alcoholic in your late 30s and spend 15 years before getting sober it’s not going to be such a noticeable gap since you were mostly finished with intimacy vs isolation anyway and you’re only missing like half of generativity vs stagnation.
TLDR; it doesn’t mess with your development only before 25 it’s just much more noticeable when a 30y/o still acts like a teenager than when a 50y/o still acts like a 35y/o.
Where would I read more about these developmental stages? I’ve not heard of them before and want to read more. I have a minor in child psychology from university, but that was so long ago my textbooks were on papyrus scrolls and I’ve not really kept up with the literature
Try Wikipedia for Eriksson’s psychosocial stages. That’s the thing they were teaching ~10y ago and idt it’s gone out of fashion as the overall framework yet.
Also it’s sort of common (experiential) knowledge in mental healthcare that addiction just hits the pause button on whatever developmental stage you’re in then sobriety unpauses it and you have to start dealing with whatever psychological stage you were avoiding at the time. So if you start using at 14 then get sober 15 years later you’re gonna be sorting out identity vs role confusion at 30 fucking years old. And the stages are really spaced out as you get older so if you turn into an alcoholic in your late 30s and spend 15 years before getting sober it’s not going to be such a noticeable gap since you were mostly finished with intimacy vs isolation anyway and you’re only missing like half of generativity vs stagnation.
TLDR; it doesn’t mess with your development only before 25 it’s just much more noticeable when a 30y/o still acts like a teenager than when a 50y/o still acts like a 35y/o.
Where would I read more about these developmental stages? I’ve not heard of them before and want to read more. I have a minor in child psychology from university, but that was so long ago my textbooks were on papyrus scrolls and I’ve not really kept up with the literature
Try Wikipedia for Eriksson’s psychosocial stages. That’s the thing they were teaching ~10y ago and idt it’s gone out of fashion as the overall framework yet.