Early Trauma and the Journey from Survival to Art

"Fike grew up in Naples, Florida, the son of a mother who was in and out of jail and a father who was mostly absent. Without stable parental figures, he took on adult responsibilities long before he was developmentally ready. In interviews, he has spoken about his younger siblings relying on him and having to care for them simply because someone had to. Responsibility and independence like this are often praised as maturity, yet in reality, it is a childhood traded in for survival."

"Parentification refers to this reversal of roles, where a child becomes the emotional or practical caretaker for their family. Parentified children are frequently labeled capable or strong, but that competence comes at the cost of emotional safety and developmental progression. Many adults who grew up like this struggle to identify their own needs because they learned that their value came from meeting the needs of others. Later, it can feel easier to care for others than to receive care themselves."

Dominic Fike achieved rapid public success while his childhood was shaped by parental absence, addiction, and incarceration. He assumed adult responsibilities early, caring for younger siblings amid unstable household conditions. Parentification reversed family roles, producing competence at the expense of emotional safety and developmental progress. Many parentified children struggle to recognize personal needs because value became tied to meeting others' needs, making receiving care difficult. Children raised in unpredictable or volatile environments learn to associate love with fear and protection with threat, which pushes the nervous system into survival mode and alters relational patterns.

Read at Psychology Today