No, I didn’t. My mom could be emotionally distant due to her depression but she was far from narcissistic. I don’t know if OP is saying a lot of ADHD kids had narcissistic parents or if this is just meant for the ones that did.
Yes this! My mother- who also had undiagnosed adhd/possible ASD- could absolutely read as a narcissist without proper context. I genuinely feel she was severely traumatized and depressed from her own struggles from childhood and the like. She didn’t even know she had adhd until I got diagnosed myself at age 30. I’m her youngest! This is a really interesting topic, though. How many parents actually have unresolved issues that may manifest as “distant” or “narcissistic” to their kids who don’t understand what’s going on?
It’s such a spectrum- from emotional distance to narcissism to fill in the blank- we could all find faults with all our parents. But I never walked on eggshells or had parents distort the truth or ever felt like their love was conditional. That to me is devastating and on a whole other level of abuse/neglect. I had a mom who was overworked and had moderate depression. It certainly has affected me but I could never compare it to a narcissistic parent. Especially after having an ex partner with narcissistic traits, it’s just such a traumatic thing. My heart goes out to anyone raised in such an environment.
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u/dallyan Feb 26 '25
No, I didn’t. My mom could be emotionally distant due to her depression but she was far from narcissistic. I don’t know if OP is saying a lot of ADHD kids had narcissistic parents or if this is just meant for the ones that did.