🎠What it means to have grown up with a parent who had obsessive-compulsive disorder
Growing up with a parent who had OCD meant your family life revolved around their mental health struggles, with their mood swings, rituals, and anxiety dictating the emotional climate of your home and requiring you to become an emotional support system rather than being supported yourself.
You may have become a "mood detective," constantly scanning for signs of trouble and suppressing your own emotions to stay in control and help prevent the next crisis. You learned to absorb others' emotions easily, developing an almost supernatural ability to feel what others feel, which became both your superpower and your survival strategy in navigating unpredictable family dynamics.
You may have learned that love came with screaming matches, tearful apologies, and passionate makeups—an emotional rollercoaster that became your template for what love feels like. You might find yourself drawn to fixing broken situations and helping others through chaos because it's familiar territory, while believing that to love someone means to be their problem-solver.