A person’s level of maturity is not determined by age. This is shown by the example of those adults who, despite having passed the age of 30, continue to show symptoms of immaturity in their behavior. Their life script is very different from that of other friends of similar ages. This type of behavior can be caused by different reasons and, in extreme cases, they must be treated so that the immature adult can establish personal relationships at a more mature level.
In this article in Psychology-Online we analyze the emotional immaturity in adults: causes and treatment.
Each story is unique. However, there are possible general schemes that identify people who match these profiles.
1. A false notion of freedom
Some people do not give themselves the opportunity to mature and evolve from their own life circumstances because they internalize a wrong concept of freedom. It is a lifestyle in which the desire of the moment is a value that is beyond any external limit or obligation.
One of the experiences that brings with it a clear lesson in maturity is The responsability. However, they have difficulties relating to the concept of norms and live in eternal opposition to reality.
The person may adopt this lifestyle with the mistaken belief that, in this way, they can avoid possible suffering, efforts and disappointments.
2. Intolerance of frustration
The human being lives a vital process marked by different stages. Childhood and adolescence also leave an important mark on adulthood. From this perspective, a childhood that was marked by constant overprotection can lead to greater intolerance towards frustration because the child has not had the opportunity to manage the disappointment produced by situations that violate his expectations because his parents and the immediate environment care. all the details of happiness in your life.
However, there is a reality. Parents can’t always be there because life has its own rules. In this way, an emotionally immature adult may have had a previous history in which he did not have the opportunity to observe life as it is, being protected by his own universe.
3. Lack of personal development
We are used to giving a lot of importance to time measured quantitatively through days, months and years. However, the reality is that time alone does not tell everything. In reality, it is you who has the power to do something valuable with those years of life.
Those people who have not dedicated time to cultivating their inner world and their emotional intelligencepaying more attention to a superficial lifestyle, are more vulnerable to the risk of emotional immaturity, which in this case is nothing more than the manifestation of the lifestyle itself.
This personal development not only depends on oneself, but also on the vital references that one has had throughout one’s existence since these references also create an influence.
Maturity is linked to many emotional components such as empathy, social skills, active listening, and social intelligence. Those who have not nourished these pillars in their own life have not had the opportunity to develop them.
4. Fear of aging
Immaturity can be a shield with which those people who fear aging and position themselves in a scenario of seemingly constant youth try to protect themselves. It is a fear of aging that is linked to the fear of making decisions, involvement with one’s own life path, the fear of suffering or the anguish over the loss of that life scenario that is so idealized: youth.
A person who decides to ask for professional help to treat their emotional immaturity can make this decision by observing the consequences that their own attitude produces in their own life. Emotional immaturity affects personal relationships. Once the protagonist has realized that he wants to adopt a change because he observes that what he loses with this attitude outweighs what he gains, he can start specialized therapy.
In the case of starting a psychotherapyFor example, the professional will help the person identify situations from the past that may be linked to this present event. But, especially, this type of therapy can be therapeutic to identify which emotional knots have not yet been resolved and are producing a blockage in the level of maturity of the affected person.
It is also possible to start a job Personal development own through specialized training in personal growth courses coordinated by a psychology expert who, from his position, guides the workshop in a context of dialogue conducive to sharing life lessons. A workshop can be especially educational.