Dear Anonymous
From the rendition of your story, it is evident that you were parentified in your teenage years. Parentification/emotional incest is where the child ‘parents’ the parent; the roles here are reversed, the parent becomes the child and the child becomes the parent. This is where the parent turns to the minor to satisfy their emotional needs instead of relating with other age appropriate adults who can be there for the parent emotionally. Parentification is a form of child neglect that often has long-term debilitating effects on the child.