u/Old-Garden-9435

I’m 17 and I’ve been through physical and emotional abuse as well as emotional neglect from a parent and I’m pretty much always more quiet and… mature or submissive around adults or people of authority but I find that in the last few years my interactions with my closest friend almost resemble that of a child and parent. and I’m concerned..

I can’t take care of myself very well and often neglect my own needs so sometimes I will forget to eat and I’ll cry to my friend that I’m hungry and sometimes kind of rely on them to get me to go and buy something to eat. Sometimes when my friends go on their phones when we’re together I get this weird feeling, which I think is also what I felt when as a kid my parent (my entire family) would always be glued to their phone

am I looking for parental validation in my friends??

i hug my friends a lot if i feel like they’re okay with it, and I mean that as in I need it to function. I find that I’m extremely childish in the things I say or do around the people I’m closest to. I often try to get them to not leave when we need to part ways because I know that then I’ll have to go home and I never *want* to go home because I know what happens when I step through the door and see my family. I know the things that they say and the things that they won’t. I don’t like dissociating and crying for hours.

I hate being alone and I can’t help but wonder if my dynamic with my friends is wrong… I’ve never truly had emotional availability or support from my family so I can’t help but seek it from my friends. is it okay to be this way?

hello teachers of Australia :) I was just wondering… if a 17 year old student (vic) came up to you and said ‘hey sorry to bother you but I know someone who thinks that they’ve been subject to years of physical and psychological abuse at home/from a parent but they don’t know what to do because they don’t think anyone can help them because their abuse has been so covert, I was wondering since you are a trusted adult if you could give me any advice to pass on’, would this be something that you would need to report as a mandatory reporter?

thank you for your time!