ABC of Mental Health

Hello! Welcome to another edition of the ABC of Mental Health, your partner in the journey to better mental health — one newsletter at a time. This week’s theme is Emotional Maturity. We bring it to your inbox this Thursday to make your Thursday a little therapeutic! 

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One relevant recommendation:

One relevant recommendation: Emotional maturity involves evaluating an individual's ability to understand, manage, and express emotions effectively. Here are some reflective prompts to help identify areas for growth and development in navigating emotions and relationships.

1. I am willing to ask for help.
   (e.g. I trust that most people will listen if I ask them to).

2. I am able to be myself, whether people accept me or not.
   (e.g. Instead of trying to please, I give other people a true indication of how I feel).

3. I am able to sustain and appreciate emotional connections.
   (e.g. I make it a point to keep in touch with special people I care about and return their calls or messages).

4. I have reasonable expectations for myself.
   (e.g. I’ll keep in mind that being perfect isn’t always necessary. I’ll get stuff done rather than obsess over getting things done perfectly).

5. I am able to communicate clearly and actively seek the outcomes I want.
   (e.g. I’ll ask for something as many times as it takes to get a clear answer). 

Two quotes on Emotional Maturity and Emotional Loneliness:

Edward A. Strecker, an American physician, a psychiatric educator, a professor of psychiatry explains emotional maturity: 

"Emotional maturity is the ability to stick to a job and to struggle through until it is finished; to endure unpleasantness, discomfort, and frustration."

Mother Teresa, Roman Catholic saint and Nobel laureate spoke on emotional lonliness as being the new plague:

"The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread, but there are many more dying for a little love."

Three TherapyShorts from TST ^{(on emotional maturity)}

1. Understanding Your Emotional Maturity: Notice recurring patterns in your behaviour such as difficulty managing frustration, avoidance of responsibility, or a tendency to blame others for personal shortcomings. Awareness will help you identify triggers that provoke emotional reactions, whether they stem from childhood experiences, family dynamics, or cultural influences. Recognising these triggers enables us to respond more consciously rather than reacting impulsively and to break generational cycles of unhealthy behaviour.

2. Willingness to Change: Willingness involves being open to examining one's beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours, even if it challenges deeply ingrained habits or beliefs. Willingness to take responsibility for one's emotional well-being and growth is key. This means being proactive in seeking self-awareness, therapy, or other resources to address areas of emotional immaturity influenced by parental or elder dynamics.

3. Emotional Maturity in Action: With awareness and willingness, you can begin to establish healthy boundaries with parents or elders (usually where we are at the receiving end of emotional immaturity), respectfully asserting you autonomy and emotional needs. This might involve setting limits on negative influences or seeking support from other sources to cultivate emotional maturity. Creating healthy boundaries is crucial for improving emotional maturity because it establishes clear guidelines for how you would wish to interact with others while protecting your own emotional well-being :)

Love and light,

The Social Therapist