The term "arrested development" has had multiple meanings for over 200 years. In the field of medicine, the term "arrested development" was used, in 1835-1836, to mean a stoppage of physical development; the term continues to be used to indicate a stoppage of physical development.
However, in the UK Mental Health Act of 1983, the term "arrested development" was considered a form of mental disorder consisting of severe mental impairment, as a lack of intelligence. Other researchers have objected to the notion that mental development can be "arrested" or stopped, preferring to consider the mental status as developing in other ways, rather than the notion of mental growth as arrested. Consequently, in psychological terminology, the term "arrested development" is no longer used in referring to a developmental disorder in mental health.
In the field of developmental biology, the related term "neoteny" (or juvenilization) means the retention, by adults in a species, of traits previously seen only in juveniles.
Famous quotes containing the words arrested and/or development:
“Christ in this country would quite likely have been arrested under the Suppression of Communism act.”
—Joost de Blank (1908–1968)
“I do seriously believe that if we can measure among the States the benefits resulting from the preservation of the Union, the rebellious States have the larger share. It destroyed an institution that was their destruction. It opened the way for a commercial life that, if they will only embrace it and face the light, means to them a development that shall rival the best attainments of the greatest of our States.”
—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)