Living with parents who struggle with mental illness is never easy, but it’s manageable.
Parents suffering from mental disorders can create an uncomfortable living experience for their children, often harming their physical and emotional development.
Fortunately, you can navigate this with proper awareness and support.
Here are some things you can do when living with mentally unhealthy parents:
Gain Awareness
Most who live with parents who suffer from a mental illness may feel helpless due to a lack of awareness about the disorder(s). Instead of blaming yourself for your parent’s behavior, focus on what you can do to avoid the negative consequences.
Being aware of any mental disorder will help you manage and navigate life with parents who suffer from it.
Get Counseling
If you’ve developed defensive habits from living with mentally ill patients, you’ll probably feel as if it’s in your nature to follow in their footsteps. For example, children who grow up with parents who have personality disorders are often hypersensitive, anxious people pleasers.
While it may seem like a part of your personality, you can overcome these habits with ongoing counseling. Consult with an experienced therapist for advice on managing your relationships, especially those with your parents. Even better, try and get your parents to visit a therapist for their own treatment.
However, many mentally ill people will deny their condition, so it’s difficult to convince them to get treatment. You may need to focus on helping yourself instead.
Set Clear Boundaries
Living with parents who have mental disorders is easy if you know how to set boundaries. Avoid blaming yourself for things that aren’t your fault or listening to things that make you anxious or depressed. Set clear boundaries with your parents on these matters and you’ll be able to manage your life more easily.
Setting boundaries is the most difficult part of managing toxic relationships. However, once you do it a few times, you’ll notice that your parents will start respecting these boundaries more often. A trained clinician can help tremendously with this process. The sooner you can help yourself, the better your life will be.