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Mary12204
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PathStep 1 Compassion hearts10 Forum posts12 Forum upvotes5 Current upvotes5 Age GroupAdult Last activeAugust, 2021 Member sinceAugust 5, 2021
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Need new coping mechanisms
7 Cups Online Therapy / by Mary12204
Last post
 October 1st, 2021
...See more A few months ago, I used to use age regression as a coping mechanism to deal with stress. For those who don't know what it is, it's when someone temporarily reverts to a younger mindset as a way to deal with stress, anxiety, PTSD, trauma, depression and other issues. When they're not regressed, they're normal, functioning teens/adults. But here's where my problem comes in. There's a negative stigma surrounding it. People get it mixed up with kinks like age play and DDLG and its variants, they say it isn't healthy or that it's a mental disorder, that it's creepy. Age regression is not any of those things but these know-it-alls act like it is. Now keep in mind that a lot of these people who say these things aren't licensed therapists/professionals yet they say that all age regressors need psychiatric help. When I used to regress, all I would do is wear pastel-colored clothes, color in a coloring book, watch my favorite childhood shows, eat snacks that I liked when I was younger and play with my stuffed animals. But I stopped recently because of how everyone keeps saying it's unhealthy so it make me question both my sanity and the morality of what I was doing. I never really got to be a child to an extent when I was younger so I felt like it was a way to relive my childhood but now that I'm 17, my family expects me to act like a fully-grown adult when I'm naturally a very childlike person. I still like unicorns, I like playing video games, I like watching cartoons, I still like wearing fun clothes/hairstyles and I still like cuddling with stuffed animals/pillows when I sleep at night but some people in my family don't like how I'm like this. I want to keep being myself but I also don't want to end up being an 18-year-old kid who's just wasting her life away by being childish by next year. Because of all the hate that age regression gets and because of how everyone says it's unhealthy despite the fact that those people aren't professionals, I miss those days ever since I stopped. I feel like even though it helped me a lot when I was still doing it, some random people on YouTube and TikTok say that I should talk to a therapist and they can help me find better ways to cope. But my friends and family keep telling me "Do what works for you." And one friend said that leaving my regression days behind will help me to grow as a person but that was before she really knew what it was. Because of all the conflicting opinions, the stigma and the hate I've gotten for it, I really don't know what to do. What are your opinions? Can I still regress if I want to or should I leave it behind forever and just find better, healthier, more socially-acceptable ways to deal with my problems? Any advice/suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. 💖
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