Speaking to my counsellor today, I realised that psychological development is just a process. Psychological development occurs particularly in your first 25 years. Mental illness, or my preferred term, mental unease, is onset when your self-responsibility exceeds your psychological development.
For example, you may need to be financially independent while studying fulltime living away from your parents’ home, something I have to be (with the help of Centrelink, of course). Such an obligation is achievable with the right psychological structures in place: your ability to get a job, your ability to complete your academic work, and your ability to live independently. Such obligations are easier achieved with social skills, your ability to gain and keep close and intimate relationships, and your general outlook on life.
However, if your psychological development isn’t at a point that can honour your self-responsible obligations, you will find it extremely difficult to cope, to the extent that mental illness may be onset, anywhere from mild to critical levels. Common illnesses include the anxiety, depression, eating disorder, substance abuse and bipolar subtypes.
When a mental illness is onset, the acute symptoms mask the root problem, which of course is the lack of psychological development. The major medical attention tends to the symptoms at hand: psychosis, depressive or anxious thoughts, suicidal ideation, alcohol or drug abuse and so on. These symptoms may be so encroaching that thought as to how the illness first became existent is swept under the carpet.
Much of the time, this may be due to the fact that the person or people who have pushed you into treatment and therapy may be your major caregivers, be it your parents or guardians. Open discussion of their neglect for you, or lack of care, will not be forthright, either because they aren’t consciously aware of the problem, or due to a defensive denial that will see major headline issues ‘swept under the carpet’. However, the truth resides in the fact that no matter how much attention you give to the acute symptoms, the long-standing chronic problem of a partially developed psychological maturity will remain.
The longer this problem is neglected, the harder the problem will be to overcome for two reasons. The first is that the acute symptoms will continue to receive the treatment, while the root problem is ignored, and the second reason is explained on the level of neuroscience. The younger your brain, the more plastic it is, and the easier it is to redesign itself, to sever and form connections. Consider attempting to reform a one year alcohol abuser to a twenty year alcohol abuser.
I believe that mental illness can be overcome to the extent that what were once acute and chronic problems will only have a residual existence within your psyche, provided you undergo the necessary psychological development. If you are receiving treatment for anxiety or depression or such not because of a traumatic abusive childhood, but simply due to a history of parental neglect and inferiority complex self-doubt, you will be able to develop your psyche in quite a straightforward manner. It will involve patience, considerable time, and ongoing psychiatric and cognitive as well as social psychological treatment.
If you consistently receive treatment and feel as though you have control over your illnesses, you can undergo a short, medium and long-term treatment strategy. You need to commit yourself to improvement, need to be prepared to explore painful unconscious and conscious aspects of your memory and psyche, and will need to believe that you can overcome your lack of psychological development.
I believe that there is a quite uniform natural psychological development that the human species undergoes, provided that family support is consistently present in a growing human’s life. Of course, life is arbitrary: some people are orphans at an extremely young age, some people live in single parent households, some children are physical, mental, emotional and sexual abuse victims, and some children are neglected.
Therefore, there is a great proportion of the world population that grows up and become an adult age with inadequate psychological development. The cost of this fact is unfathomably large, and shapes society in becoming what it is, in real time. As a responsible 21 year old (or however old you are), it is your responsibility to recognise whether you have adequate psychological development.
There’s no doubt that some people come of age with a naturally developed psyche, however, a great deal of people rely on psychiatric and psychological treatment to achieve proper development; this is why mental illness is so prolific in society. The first step to achieving proper psychological development is recognising you need assistance. The second step is to seek the assistance. The third step is psychiatric or psychological assessment by trained medical professionals. Until you reach this third step, you won’t have truly begun the process of experiencing proper psychological development.
For example, you may need to be financially independent while studying fulltime living away from your parents’ home, something I have to be (with the help of Centrelink, of course). Such an obligation is achievable with the right psychological structures in place: your ability to get a job, your ability to complete your academic work, and your ability to live independently. Such obligations are easier achieved with social skills, your ability to gain and keep close and intimate relationships, and your general outlook on life.
However, if your psychological development isn’t at a point that can honour your self-responsible obligations, you will find it extremely difficult to cope, to the extent that mental illness may be onset, anywhere from mild to critical levels. Common illnesses include the anxiety, depression, eating disorder, substance abuse and bipolar subtypes.
When a mental illness is onset, the acute symptoms mask the root problem, which of course is the lack of psychological development. The major medical attention tends to the symptoms at hand: psychosis, depressive or anxious thoughts, suicidal ideation, alcohol or drug abuse and so on. These symptoms may be so encroaching that thought as to how the illness first became existent is swept under the carpet.
Much of the time, this may be due to the fact that the person or people who have pushed you into treatment and therapy may be your major caregivers, be it your parents or guardians. Open discussion of their neglect for you, or lack of care, will not be forthright, either because they aren’t consciously aware of the problem, or due to a defensive denial that will see major headline issues ‘swept under the carpet’. However, the truth resides in the fact that no matter how much attention you give to the acute symptoms, the long-standing chronic problem of a partially developed psychological maturity will remain.
The longer this problem is neglected, the harder the problem will be to overcome for two reasons. The first is that the acute symptoms will continue to receive the treatment, while the root problem is ignored, and the second reason is explained on the level of neuroscience. The younger your brain, the more plastic it is, and the easier it is to redesign itself, to sever and form connections. Consider attempting to reform a one year alcohol abuser to a twenty year alcohol abuser.
I believe that mental illness can be overcome to the extent that what were once acute and chronic problems will only have a residual existence within your psyche, provided you undergo the necessary psychological development. If you are receiving treatment for anxiety or depression or such not because of a traumatic abusive childhood, but simply due to a history of parental neglect and inferiority complex self-doubt, you will be able to develop your psyche in quite a straightforward manner. It will involve patience, considerable time, and ongoing psychiatric and cognitive as well as social psychological treatment.
If you consistently receive treatment and feel as though you have control over your illnesses, you can undergo a short, medium and long-term treatment strategy. You need to commit yourself to improvement, need to be prepared to explore painful unconscious and conscious aspects of your memory and psyche, and will need to believe that you can overcome your lack of psychological development.
I believe that there is a quite uniform natural psychological development that the human species undergoes, provided that family support is consistently present in a growing human’s life. Of course, life is arbitrary: some people are orphans at an extremely young age, some people live in single parent households, some children are physical, mental, emotional and sexual abuse victims, and some children are neglected.
Therefore, there is a great proportion of the world population that grows up and become an adult age with inadequate psychological development. The cost of this fact is unfathomably large, and shapes society in becoming what it is, in real time. As a responsible 21 year old (or however old you are), it is your responsibility to recognise whether you have adequate psychological development.
There’s no doubt that some people come of age with a naturally developed psyche, however, a great deal of people rely on psychiatric and psychological treatment to achieve proper development; this is why mental illness is so prolific in society. The first step to achieving proper psychological development is recognising you need assistance. The second step is to seek the assistance. The third step is psychiatric or psychological assessment by trained medical professionals. Until you reach this third step, you won’t have truly begun the process of experiencing proper psychological development.