Regression to Childhood Age: Understanding, Symptoms, Roots, and Treatment
Age regression is a phenomenon where an individual's thoughts, emotions, and behavior revert to an earlier stage of development. This article aims to shed light on common signs and potential causes of long-term age regression in children and adults.
Common Signs of Long-Term Age Regression
In children, long-term age regression may manifest as increased attachment to caregivers, crying, temper tantrums, withdrawal from social situations, irritability, mood swings, and decreased engagement with peers. There can be a decline in language and communication skills, such as reduced vocabulary use, loss of previously learned phrases, and difficulty understanding spoken language. Sleep disturbances and bed-wetting may also occur.
In adults, age regression or skill regression may manifest as a loss of formerly acquired skills, decreased self-efficacy, and psychological challenges like identity shifts and increased emotional vulnerability.
Potential Causes and Triggers
Long-term age regression is often linked to psychological and developmental factors. For instance, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) regression, usually occurring after a period of typical development, can be triggered or accompanied by sensory or emotional challenges.
Trauma and adverse childhood experiences, such as abuse, neglect, or emotional invalidation, have been linked to developmental regressions and later psychological disorders like borderline personality disorder and PTSD. These conditions can contribute to emotional dysregulation that mimics or includes regression features.
Psychological stressors in adults, such as diagnosis-related identity shifts or decreased self-confidence, can trigger skill regression or age regression behaviors. In children, developmental stages and disruptions in emotional support or secure attachments can lead to regressive behaviors like clinginess and tantrums.
Although physical causes (such as neurodevelopmental disorders or brain injury) are not explicitly detailed in the provided sources, psychological trauma and developmental disorders are prominent contributors.
Seeking Help
If you or someone you know is showing signs of long-term age regression, seeking help is crucial. Treatment for age regression aims to address the underlying cause, and may include support for anxiety, interventions such as cognitive-behavioral therapy, and medication for conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder or dissociative identity disorder.
The 988 Lifeline, Crisis Text Line, and Befrienders Worldwide are resources for those in crisis or needing mental health support. If you are calling on behalf of someone else, stay with them until help arrives and remove any potential harmful substances or weapons if safe to do so.
Remember, recreational age regression is not necessarily harmful, but if it interferes with a person's life, they should discuss it with a therapist. Age regression in older children and adults can be a sign of an underlying problem such as stress, trauma, dissociation, psychosis, neurological conditions, or delirium.
In children, temporary regression at key stages of development is typical. However, persistent symptoms require professional attention. Anyone concerned about showing signs of age regression should speak with a mental health professional for advice. Seeking help is important for anyone with persistent mental health symptoms, including signs of age regression, feelings of being helpless or overwhelmed, or symptoms of PTSD.
[1] American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.
[2] Cohen, J. A., & Mannarino, A. P. (2008). Trauma and loss: Theory, research, and treatment. Guilford Press.
[3] Linehan, M. M. (1993). Cognitive-behavioral treatment of borderline personality disorder. Guilford Press.
[4] van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Penguin Books.
[5] Sroufe, L. A., & Rutter, M. (1984). Attachment and development: Autonomous and related behaviors in infancy, childhood, and adolescence. Cambridge University Press.
Read also:
- Eight strategies for promoting restful slumber in individuals with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
- Exploring the Strength of Minimally Digestible Diets: A Roadmap to Gastrointestinal Healing
- Secondhand Smoke: Understanding its Nature, Impact on Health, and Additional Facts
- Overseeing and addressing seizure-induced high blood pressure complications in pregnancy, known as eclampsia
