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Codependency
In psychology, codependency is a theory that attempts to explain imbalanced relationships where one person enables another person's self-destructive behavior, such as addiction, poor mental health, immaturity, irresponsibility, or under-achievement.
Definitions of codependency vary, but typically include high self-sacrifice, a focus on others' needs, suppression of one's own emotions, and attempts to control or fix other people's problems.
People who self-identify as codependent are more likely to have low self-esteem, but it is unclear whether this is a cause or an effect of characteristics associated with codependency.
The term codependency most likely developed in Minnesota in the late 1970s from co-alcoholic, when alcoholism and other drug dependencies were grouped together as "chemical dependency". In Alcoholics Anonymous, it became clear that alcoholism was not solely about the addict, but also about the enabling behaviors of the alcoholic's social network. The term codependent was first used to describe persons whose lives were affected through their involvement with a person with a substance use disorder, resulting in the development of a pattern of coping with life that was not healthy as a reaction to that other person's substance abuse.
In 1986, psychiatrist Timmen L. Cermak published Diagnosing and Treating Co-Dependence, from which he developed the unsuccessful argument that codependency should be diagnosable as a personality disorder in people who maintained relationships with "personality disordered, chemically dependent, other co-dependent, and/or impulse disordered individuals."
Melody Beattie popularized the concept of codependency in 1986 with the bestselling book Codependent No More, which drew on her personal experience in recovery and as a caregiver for somebody with a substance use disorder and interviews with members of Al-Anon, a support group for family members of alcoholics. Beattie's work formed the basis for the development of a twelve-step organisation called Co-Dependents Anonymous, founded in 1986.
Codependency has no established definition or diagnostic criteria within the mental health community. It has not been included as a condition in any edition of the DSM or ICD.
A 1994 review of the literature on codependency found that there was no consensus on a clear definition of the term, that the concept lacked empirical validation across the surveyed articles, and that most authors who attempted to define codependency instead conflate that task with developing theories about its nature and origins. A 2004 survey that sought to clarify the definition of codependency, as a prelude to evaluating it as a possible psychological diagnosis, found that definitions within surveyed papers varied significantly, but tended to identify as core elements high self-sacrifice, a focus on others' needs, suppression of one's own emotions, and attempts to control or fix other people's problems.
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Codependency
In psychology, codependency is a theory that attempts to explain imbalanced relationships where one person enables another person's self-destructive behavior, such as addiction, poor mental health, immaturity, irresponsibility, or under-achievement.
Definitions of codependency vary, but typically include high self-sacrifice, a focus on others' needs, suppression of one's own emotions, and attempts to control or fix other people's problems.
People who self-identify as codependent are more likely to have low self-esteem, but it is unclear whether this is a cause or an effect of characteristics associated with codependency.
The term codependency most likely developed in Minnesota in the late 1970s from co-alcoholic, when alcoholism and other drug dependencies were grouped together as "chemical dependency". In Alcoholics Anonymous, it became clear that alcoholism was not solely about the addict, but also about the enabling behaviors of the alcoholic's social network. The term codependent was first used to describe persons whose lives were affected through their involvement with a person with a substance use disorder, resulting in the development of a pattern of coping with life that was not healthy as a reaction to that other person's substance abuse.
In 1986, psychiatrist Timmen L. Cermak published Diagnosing and Treating Co-Dependence, from which he developed the unsuccessful argument that codependency should be diagnosable as a personality disorder in people who maintained relationships with "personality disordered, chemically dependent, other co-dependent, and/or impulse disordered individuals."
Melody Beattie popularized the concept of codependency in 1986 with the bestselling book Codependent No More, which drew on her personal experience in recovery and as a caregiver for somebody with a substance use disorder and interviews with members of Al-Anon, a support group for family members of alcoholics. Beattie's work formed the basis for the development of a twelve-step organisation called Co-Dependents Anonymous, founded in 1986.
Codependency has no established definition or diagnostic criteria within the mental health community. It has not been included as a condition in any edition of the DSM or ICD.
A 1994 review of the literature on codependency found that there was no consensus on a clear definition of the term, that the concept lacked empirical validation across the surveyed articles, and that most authors who attempted to define codependency instead conflate that task with developing theories about its nature and origins. A 2004 survey that sought to clarify the definition of codependency, as a prelude to evaluating it as a possible psychological diagnosis, found that definitions within surveyed papers varied significantly, but tended to identify as core elements high self-sacrifice, a focus on others' needs, suppression of one's own emotions, and attempts to control or fix other people's problems.