@creative_writer do your parents know much about mental health in general? do they know about your mental health and the supports you've seeked (i.e. GP, psych, pdoc, etc)?

oh yep 100% hear you with the 'fixing you' rather than listening, my parents definitely treated me like that. from a family/friend pov, i do think the 'fixing' mindset comes from a place of fear and care. and sometimes they don't realise that simply sitting with you and listening solves half the problem. it's hard when they can't sit with that uncomfortable feeling with you, but perhaps with practice they can? thoughts?

i think that 'wanting people who can handle you at your worst' is a pretty common want. i definitely had that want too, especially from my family. 

not sure if you relate to this but i think that sometimes when we've encountered childhood trauma we tend to be able to pick up on changes to emotions/moods really quickly, and so we can tell when our parents are mad before they say a word. and when we get older, i think a part of us expects our family/friends to pick up on our slight mood shifts or changes in behaviour the same way we did, and know that we're distressed. but that also means we expect them to almost 'read our minds/body language' rather than using words?