I have depression. That doesn't embarrass me. I think I have gotten over the majority of my "mental health problems" in that I am able to meet and interact with people; my social anxiety (which I didn't even know was social anxiety) is gone. I like meeting people and I can talk to just about anyone pleasantly although I prefer some people over others, conversation-wise. I don't think my emotions have whims. I view my emotions as gifts that are connected to me intellectually and spiritually and physically. I do think older people generally are more experienced in dealing with situations that might "stir up" emotions or negative reactions, and I have read that some mental illnesses are not as extreme as people age. I would guess individual results (so to speak) vary, though.

I have observed that people who have worked really hard to react a certain way to situations (like you'd work a muscle) are generally effective in obtaining the expected result.

But!

This can be good or bad. Someone I know works very hard at being a helpless little girl. She works very hard at being helpless and when she talks about how helpless she is, she says it with pride. I don't doubt she is getting the result she thinks she wants.

However, she can't see that she could be even happier if she learned (and she could learn) to be an adult.

So I am in partial agreement with you. I do think it is a "lack of maturity" or maybe better said "a purposeful insistence on staying on the same dead-end path" that keeps people setting themselves up for staying in their ruts.

But a diagnosed medical condition can throw a monkey wrench in what I have said, too. I wouldn't look down on someone with diabetes getting sick after eating a sweet meal any more than I would at a person with a broken leg not being able to run.

But someone who has always allowed him or herself to be a door mat rather than learn to say no? I do believe that sort of condition is fixable.

But psychosis or other extreme conditions I wouldn't expect someone to fix on his or her own.

So how is your "crazier" expressing itself?