True or false:you stop maturing when your addiction started?

6 Comments

It's been said that addicts stop maturing when their addiction started, because that's when they stopped living in reality and facing things and growing from experience. So an alcoholic who started drinking at 18 and is now 40 is at the same maturity level he was at 18. It's personal maturity level, not some kind of defined or general maturity level.

Do you agree or disagree? And do you have a real life example that lends to your opinion?

Agree. 44
Disagree. 43
Some people yes, some people no. (Are you sure?) 42
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Comments ( 6 )
  • Ihadtomakeyetanotheraccountffs
    12 years ago

    No idea to be honest.

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  • karmasAbich
    12 years ago

    I think they do.

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  • DavidS.
    12 years ago

    It is a good question and very much true...emotionally people who are addicts do not have to deal with the full range of emotions with the same intensity..they also tend to stay stuck on the
    Same mental level...we develop emotional muscles just like regular muscles..so yes they tend tone very self-centered, manipulative, and lazy...which is like early teens

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  • equanimity
    12 years ago

    I think anyone with a high degree of self-loathing and self-pity will have a problem with maturity; regardless of an addiction. Those type of people also tend to have problems with addiction. But to say that addiction is the cause of immaturity in people with addictions, is not accurate at all. I suppose it could limit personal development and growth in one of those people while they were in the throws of addiction.

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  • rlp25
    12 years ago

    Yeah. I went to my aunt's adult NA group and it felt like I was sitting in a room full of teenagers

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    • Dom67
      12 years ago

      That's interesting what you said, rlp25. I know for myself I started smoking pot at the age of 12. It progressed to alcohol, acid, cocaine, heroin, and crack, not to mention a few others. When I finally stopped using and got into recovery at age 28, I felt very immature. Not like I felt like I was 12 years old, but I definitely had some growing up to do.
      It's been proven that drugs and alcohol stunt our growth, whether psychologically or physically. A friend of mine drank so much in his teenage years that he is shorter then his siblings, because alcohol stunts growth. If it does that to physical growth, just imagine what it does to the brain, during teenage years!

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