Hi, I just wondered what the difference between mental ages and regression ages are? It's just I know mental ages are seen as a bad thing and harmful and I thought age regression was a mental thing too, because it's a headspace and we mentally are that age?
Hi there~
The difference between the term age regression and the term mental age is that mental age is a term often used by NT people to infantilize and silence mentally disabled people by claiming that they think like a child because of their mental disablility (kinda like functioning labels). Often, a mentally disabled person doesn’t have “the mind of a child” but the mind of a disabled adult. The term isn’t harmful in it self, an it is completely okay for disabled people to reclaim the term and use it to describe themself, since some disabled people might actually feel younger. It is only harmful and ableist when people force it upon other people.
While age regression is also a mental thing, it is different from the mental age theory, because while mental age is a term disabled people can use to describe how old they feel, age regression means regressing to a younger age, often for reasons like trauma or mental disorders, or just because it feels good. Often, the regressor will use the term ‘regression age’ to describe how old they feel in their headspace.
I hope this answers your question. If not, feel free to send another ask.
Have a nice day/night ♡