Some of the more obvious symptoms of addiction are disruptions to an individual’s external life, including their relationships, family, jobs, friends, and economic struggles. It is clear that drug and alcohol abuse damages a person’s overall health, but addiction also stunts internal factors like emotional growth and social development. When an adult is an addict, society still expects the individual to act a certain way and be responsible. Adults are supposed to be wiser and more aware of the consequences of their actions and their impact on other people. Unfortunately, most adult addicts make decisions that would not classify them as responsible adults. When adults are deep in their addiction, they usually do not weigh the consequences of their actions. With this mindset controlling their actions, individuals struggling with addiction live according to their emotional age, not their actual age. Not worrying about other people’s emotions, let alone their own, makes addicts emotionally unaware and unable to act their age.

PHYSICAL AGE VS EMOTIONAL AGE What is the difference between emotional and physical age? Physical age is predictable and backed up by science. For example, general age can be classified through stepping stones like losing baby teeth, the age when your bones stop growing, and when women experience menstruation and menopause. Overall, physical age is inevitable and will progress. Emotional age, on the other hand, is not guaranteed to grow.

Emotional age is dependent on the individual’s life experiences and responses to situations and the consequences of their actions. As with all individuals, emotions are unpredictable and adjustable. Individuals who abuse drugs or alcohol, however, are at risk for stunting their emotional growth because they continue with harmful behavior and immature and unacceptable actions. For most addicted individuals, emotional upset stems from their childhood. Many begin to use drugs or alcohol to mask their problems and avoid dealing with difficult situations upfront. This makes it more difficult for addicted people to handle the circumstances of their actions and leaves their emotional growth stuck in the same spot as when they started using toxic substances.

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