What is Arrested Emotional Development?
Even though physical maturity is inevitable, emotional maturity is not.
I observe that the vast majority of people are stuck in their emotional growth process somewhere in their adolescent years.
Addictions, greed, immaturity, fear, blame, shame, resentments, anger, confusion and suffering can all signs of arrested emotional development. When we get ‘stuck’ in our emotional development, we cease to learn how to take responsibility for our actions and our lives. We get stuck at the point of some trauma that happens in our life that we don’t know how to let go of or to process.
Where does Arrested Emotional Development come from?
Arrested Emotional Development is being stuck in (or Anchored to) an emotional level of development from childhood experience also called “resource states”. Out of these ‘negative’ beliefs comes an underlying & unconscious commitment. I.E. I’m not good enough, I was a mistake, I’m dumb, etc.…
I observe that the vast majority of people are stuck in their emotional growth process somewhere in their adolescent years.
Addictions, greed, immaturity, fear, blame, shame, resentments, anger, confusion and suffering can all signs of arrested emotional development. When we get ‘stuck’ in our emotional development, we cease to learn how to take responsibility for our actions and our lives. We get stuck at the point of some trauma that happens in our life that we don’t know how to let go of or to process.
Where does Arrested Emotional Development come from?
Arrested Emotional Development is being stuck in (or Anchored to) an emotional level of development from childhood experience also called “resource states”. Out of these ‘negative’ beliefs comes an underlying & unconscious commitment. I.E. I’m not good enough, I was a mistake, I’m dumb, etc.…
Anchoring to a ‘Resource State’
To describe this classical conditioning behavior called anchoring in a human context. We must understand and take note that as we go through life we build a lot of anchors for various responses.
Examples: How many of us feel a certain way when we hear "Our song", or have a sense of dread when we hear a certain tone in a parent's voice?
Anchors are learned responses…and the amazing thing about an anchor is that it is usually learned in result of a single learning experience. It is normally the case that there is one defining incident that creates the anchor program in the subconscious. Then the learned response is repeated and conditioned.
Examples: How many of us feel a certain way when we hear "Our song", or have a sense of dread when we hear a certain tone in a parent's voice?
Anchors are learned responses…and the amazing thing about an anchor is that it is usually learned in result of a single learning experience. It is normally the case that there is one defining incident that creates the anchor program in the subconscious. Then the learned response is repeated and conditioned.
Pavlov’s Law
Pavlov’s Law explained:
Pavlov was a scientist in the 1800’s who discovered that behaviors could be triggered by signals. Pavlov tested ringing a bell while simultaneously presenting dogs with food. Before long, the dogs ‘learned’ to salivate to the sound of the bell, without the food. The bell became a ‘trigger’ for the response of salivation.
Abuse, accidents, death of loved ones an unkind word or a fearsome event can all cause arrested emotional development as a child. When we stop growing emotionally, life becomes overwhelming.
Pavlov was a scientist in the 1800’s who discovered that behaviors could be triggered by signals. Pavlov tested ringing a bell while simultaneously presenting dogs with food. Before long, the dogs ‘learned’ to salivate to the sound of the bell, without the food. The bell became a ‘trigger’ for the response of salivation.
Abuse, accidents, death of loved ones an unkind word or a fearsome event can all cause arrested emotional development as a child. When we stop growing emotionally, life becomes overwhelming.
This brings us to “The Eight Psychosocial Stages of Human Development”.
Dr. Erik Erikson, the famous psychologist (1902-1994) who proposed these Stages found that…Unresolved Childhood Developmental Tasks “leave a life-long residue of emotional immaturity.”
In other words…
You’re original, immature, unidentified Subconscious Issues Are controlling your behaviors—and even your thinking...
We all go through these 8 stages of development in our physical life. These stages are generally infant, child, youth, adolescence, teen, young adults, adults, and elders. You will notice that even though there are ages assigned to these stages, everyone is different and some people can appear to stay younger longer than others. However, we have to go through these stages eventually or die trying….
Emotional development also goes through 8 stages, and if we are healthy the emotional development matches physical development. I believe that we go through the emotional stages of helplessness and need, formation of personality, fear and suffering, responsibility and acceptance, and finally, peace.
Again, although we all start at the state of helplessness and need, these stages are not age specific. We all have probably met people who are stuck in one of these stages or another.
More serious issues…central to most personality disorder problems, is arrested emotional development, which is triggered by parental neglect and/or abuse in infancy and childhood (birth-18 years old).
In these cases adult development can be accomplished, but it takes time and treatment to mend the core trauma wounds that are inherently at the root of this dysfunction of emotional development.
Normal Adult Thinking verses arrested emotional development
Critical adult thinking involves…logical reality based thinking and reasoning…(including skills such as comparison, classification, sequencing, cause/effect, patterning, webbing, analogies, deductive & inductive reasoning, forecasting, planning, hypothesizing, & critiquing).
Bottom-line...Arrested Emotional Development can block these skills in adults.
In other words…
You’re original, immature, unidentified Subconscious Issues Are controlling your behaviors—and even your thinking...
We all go through these 8 stages of development in our physical life. These stages are generally infant, child, youth, adolescence, teen, young adults, adults, and elders. You will notice that even though there are ages assigned to these stages, everyone is different and some people can appear to stay younger longer than others. However, we have to go through these stages eventually or die trying….
Emotional development also goes through 8 stages, and if we are healthy the emotional development matches physical development. I believe that we go through the emotional stages of helplessness and need, formation of personality, fear and suffering, responsibility and acceptance, and finally, peace.
Again, although we all start at the state of helplessness and need, these stages are not age specific. We all have probably met people who are stuck in one of these stages or another.
More serious issues…central to most personality disorder problems, is arrested emotional development, which is triggered by parental neglect and/or abuse in infancy and childhood (birth-18 years old).
In these cases adult development can be accomplished, but it takes time and treatment to mend the core trauma wounds that are inherently at the root of this dysfunction of emotional development.
Normal Adult Thinking verses arrested emotional development
Critical adult thinking involves…logical reality based thinking and reasoning…(including skills such as comparison, classification, sequencing, cause/effect, patterning, webbing, analogies, deductive & inductive reasoning, forecasting, planning, hypothesizing, & critiquing).
Bottom-line...Arrested Emotional Development can block these skills in adults.
The Subconscious is the key!
Going deeper…these are unconscious beliefs located in the subconscious…a form of arrested emotional development in childhood that has continued into adult years. Unconscious beliefs that are programmed responses in the fight-flight-freeze response.
Treatment for Arrested Emotional Development
Adult development can be accomplished, but it takes time and psychological treatment to mend the core trauma wounds that are inherently at the root of this dysfunction of emotional development.
Of course you know the treatment method I recommend!
http://theliberatormethod.com/Welcome.html
Going deeper…these are unconscious beliefs located in the subconscious…a form of arrested emotional development in childhood that has continued into adult years. Unconscious beliefs that are programmed responses in the fight-flight-freeze response.
Treatment for Arrested Emotional Development
Adult development can be accomplished, but it takes time and psychological treatment to mend the core trauma wounds that are inherently at the root of this dysfunction of emotional development.
Of course you know the treatment method I recommend!
http://theliberatormethod.com/Welcome.html