Co-Dependency: Definition and Characteristics
09/23/2020
If you believe you may be in a co-dependent relationship or are avoiding relationships due to a co-dependent nature, you are not alone! Please reach out to your In Step Behavioral Health therapist for more guidance on how to manage co-dependency. Listed below are two links to additional resources you can check out on-line.
https://bpdfamily.com/content/codependency-codependent-relationships
https://psychcentral.com/lib/symptoms-of-codependency/
Reference:
Rosenberg, Ross. (2019). Surviving Narcissistic Abuse: The Human Magnet Syndrome, The Co-Dependent Narcissist Trap. Morgan James Publishing.
Nancy Brandes is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor who has been in the field of therapy for ten years. She has been working with In Step Behavioral Health since January of this year and is accepting new patients. Nancy enjoys working individually with patients aged 12 and up.
- According to a research article by Clark & Stoffel (as cited in Rosenberg, 2019), co-dependency is an extreme sense of responsibility to others, inability to appropriately care for oneself, increased focus on others’ needs, decreased focus on needs of the self, overreaction to things external to the self, under-reaction to the things internal to self, low self-esteem, low self-concept, high external locus of control, and denial.
- Some characteristics of co-dependents include a passive communication style, feeling responsible for others’ actions and feelings, people-pleasing, overcommitment to relationships, difficulty in getting own needs met, fear of and avoidance of conflict and disagreements, and poor boundaries.
- Co-dependency originated as a term used to describe a relationship wherein one person abused alcohol and/or drugs and the other person enabled this addictive behavior. The definition has expanded to include any relationship wherein one individual enables the dysfunctional behavior of another individual.
If you believe you may be in a co-dependent relationship or are avoiding relationships due to a co-dependent nature, you are not alone! Please reach out to your In Step Behavioral Health therapist for more guidance on how to manage co-dependency. Listed below are two links to additional resources you can check out on-line.
https://bpdfamily.com/content/codependency-codependent-relationships
https://psychcentral.com/lib/symptoms-of-codependency/
Reference:
Rosenberg, Ross. (2019). Surviving Narcissistic Abuse: The Human Magnet Syndrome, The Co-Dependent Narcissist Trap. Morgan James Publishing.
Nancy Brandes is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor who has been in the field of therapy for ten years. She has been working with In Step Behavioral Health since January of this year and is accepting new patients. Nancy enjoys working individually with patients aged 12 and up.
