🌀 What it means to have grown up with a parent who had schizophrenia
Growing up with a parent who had schizophrenia meant becoming a "mood detective" in a household where reality itself could shift without warning, and your parent's mental health struggles became the center of family life.
You may have learned to become an emotional sponge, constantly absorbing the feelings of everyone around you while developing extraordinary skills at reading micro-expressions, voice tones, and body language like a roadmap. Your parent's mood swings and struggles dictated how you felt, teaching you that your worth came from being useful - from being the one who could spot trouble coming and smooth things over before situations escalated.
Now you may find yourself feeling overly responsible for others' emotions, as if their well-being depends entirely on you. You've become so good at putting out everyone else's fires that you've forgotten your own home is filled with smoke. There's exhausting confusion about where your responsibilities end and others' begin, and you may struggle to know what you actually want versus what you think others need from you.