I am a CSA survivor and grew up in a very unsteady home setting in and out of care due to mom’s BPD. Though after moving across the country to be with my birth dad and reconnecting with him while spending a good couple years focused on my mental health I can proudly say that I’ve been in remission from PTSD for about two years now. :) when I was with the foster parents I aged out with they maintained that despite my age I seemed much more like a 12 year old than a 15/16/17 year old and thought I acted closer to 8 when I first ended up with them at 15. But I never really “matured” past 12ish even at almost 27. I have learned age appropriate emotional regulation though a lot of therapy but in so many other ways it’s still as if I’m 12ish and due to my baby face even kids tend to think I’m 12/13. So was reading a fanfic and now I’m really confused about age regression is and if I’m just autistic or could be regressing/ed. I’ve done a few hours of research on google but am still quite confused on what exactly a little is and how to know if I’m just autistic with no cognitive delay but with socioemotinal delay or if being stuck in many ways as somehow being 12ish and also my age in other areas at the same time. It’s not anything I’m doing on purpose or want to do. In a lot of ways I wish that I could just catch up to my age but that just doesn’t seem to happen and it seems out of my control. My baby brother is 12 years younger than I am I’m 26 he’s currently 15 (11 years mathematical difference right now because he just had a birthday and mine is next month) and I remember when he was 11 being very sad that I could tell that he was developing past me and try as I might to not let it happen he was “leaving me behind”. So is there any way to tell if I’m delayed and it I may never “catch up” or if I’m regressed and may be able to “catch up” or if there’s a combination of things going on? And if any of y’all could explain to me what exactly a little is because google is just confusing me. Thank you!
Thank you ;)
Swiss
BeanToes