Preview

Codependency: Family and Co-dependency this Condition

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1368 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Codependency: Family and Co-dependency this Condition
Co-dependency
Co-dependency is a learned behavior that can be passed down from one generation to another. It is an emotional and behavioral condition that affects an individual’s ability to have a healthy, mutually satisfying relationship. It is also known as “relationship addiction” because people with codependency often form or maintain relationships that are one-sided, emotionally destructive and/or abusive. The disorder was first identified about ten years ago as the result of years of studying interpersonal relationships in families of alcoholics. Co-dependent behavior is learned by watching and imitating other family members who display this type of behavior.
Who Does Co-dependency Affect?
Co-dependency often affects a spouse, a parent, sibling, friend, or co-worker of a person afflicted with alcohol or drug dependence. Originally, co-dependent was a term used to describe partners in chemical dependency, persons living with, or in a relationship with an addicted person. Similar patterns have been seen in people in relationships with chronically or mentally ill individuals. Today, however, the term has broadened to describe any co-dependent person from any dysfunctional family.
What is a Dysfunctional Family and How Does it Lead to Co-dependency?
A dysfunctional family is one in which members suffer from fear, anger, pain, or shame that is ignored or denied. Underlying problems may include any of the following:
• An addiction by a family member to drugs, alcohol, relationships, work, food, sex, or gambling.
• The existence of physical, emotional, or sexual abuse.
• The presence of a family member suffering from a chronic mental or physical illness.
Dysfunctional families do not acknowledge that problems exist. They don’t talk about them or confront them. As a result, family members learn to repress emotions and disregard their own needs. They become “survivors.” They develop behaviors that help them deny, ignore, or avoid difficult emotions. They

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Midterm Hb1

    • 3575 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Gruber, K.J., & Taylor M.F. (2006). A family perspective for substance abuse: Implications from the literature. Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions, 6(1/2), 6.…

    • 3575 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Structural Family Theory

    • 829 Words
    • 4 Pages

    133), and like other systems theorists, he believed that a family’s contexts, including internal and external stressors, were more important than an individual family member’s symptoms (M. Reed, personal communication, July 28, 2015). According to structural theory, symptoms are best understood in the context of family transactional patterns as members respond to stressors: a healthy family maintains a balance between continuity and flexibility as it reorganizes itself in response to developmental and situational changes; a dysfunctional family is inflexible and unable to adjust obsolete transactional patterns in response to change (Goldenberg & Goldenberg, 2013, p.…

    • 829 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Structural family theory

    • 479 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Family dysfunction results from a combination of stress and failure to realign themselves to cope with it. Stressors may be environmental (a parent is laid off, the family moves) or developmental (a child reaches adolescence, parents retire). The family’s failure to handle adversity may be due to flaws in their structure or merely to their inability to adjust to changed circumstances. All families face situations that stress the system. Although, there is no clear dividing line between healthy and unhealthy families, healthy families modify their structure to accommodate to changed circumstances, whereas dysfunctional families increase the rigidity of structures that are no longer effective. Structural assessments take into account both the problem the family presents and the structural dynamics they display. And they include all family members (Nichols & Schwartz, 2004).…

    • 479 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The effects of codependency can have on adult relationships are that they cannot maintain a healthy relationship because the lack of intimacy with their significant others. They detach themselves from others; they do not talk and confront their problems, touch, feel or trust anyone, and then they feel hopeless of themselves. It can benefit the co-dependent person if she/he seeks help because they can escape from this unhealthy life, and fulfill a new healthy life and relationship with others. As well as, they can start to feel the feelings that were ignored and denied during their childhood.…

    • 97 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    You did a good job pointing out the structural family therapy and the systems within the family structure. How structural family therapy understand a family system is when the family system is stabilized by each family members contribution to the family system as a whole. By each member’s contribution, the subsystems hierarchy is set and power or who is in charge is allocated within the appropriate individuals/subsystems. The subsystems they rely on each other and more is expected from one person than another (Becvar & Becvar,2013). So for example: A couple dates and a year later yet married. Six months after getting married the woman finds out she is pregnant and nine months later a child is born. There is now a shift in the family system. Roles are now set in place and the mother is the nurture and the father becomes the disciplinarian as the child…

    • 149 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Bertrand, K., Richer, I., Brunelle, N., Beaudoin, I., Lemieux, A., & Menard, . (2013). Substance Abuse Treatment for Adolescents: How are Family Factors Related to Substance Use Change. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs. Volume 45(1), January – March 2013. GCU Library.…

    • 1230 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    People with avoidant attachment tend to be comfortable without close emotional relationships. It is very important to them to feel independent and have self-sufficient. They prefer not to depend on others or have others depend on them because they already accepted their situation towards separation. People with this attachment style desire a high level of independence. The desire for independence often appears as an attempt to avoid attachment altogether. Because they have already accepted the separation towards their attachment figure, they view themselves as self-sufficient and safe to feelings associated with being closely attached to others. They often deny needing close relationships. Some may even view close relationships as relatively…

    • 166 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    underlying issue of a co-dependent relationship is that there is a need to be needed despite the pain…

    • 95 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Women with antisocial personality disorder have symptoms of violence, lying, inappropriate behaviour and are constantly in trouble with the law. The causes of women with antisocial personality disorder have been linked to physical, verbal and sexual child abuse.…

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Co-dependency is an issue that I see on a fairly regular basis. Mostly, women, but some men are affected by it, and it is defined as learned behavior that can be passed down from one generation to another. This condition involves emotional and behavioral aspects that prevent an individual from experiencing a healthy and mutually satisfying relationship. Co-dependency has also been referred to as “relationship addiction” because people who suffer from it will very often seek relationships that are one-sided or extremely abusive. Most often these choices are made unconsciously. It is not like we just go out there with the intent on finding that person we are going to try and save. People who suffer from codependency are typically drawn together…

    • 721 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The bottom line for family members to remember is that what family members do or don't do does not directly cause another person to become an active addict/alcoholic. What family members do and the conditions they establish at home may contribute to the prompting of the…

    • 413 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The family is the most important part of the lives of most people and is believed to be one of the best things that a person might achieve. The family provides us with the necessary support and the feeling of love and necessity. However, very often even the family can be darkened by our emotions and feelings. One of such feelings that often may occur within the family is the guilt that changes our behavior and makes us commit the actions that we otherwise would not have done.…

    • 570 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Co-dependency is sometimes referred to as a “relationship addiction,” because some people may find themselves repeatedly attracted to toxic relationships.…

    • 311 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Family Development Theory

    • 489 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Dysfunctional: The ineffective families that is unable to deal with its problems and require outside help.…

    • 489 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    When I read Foundations of a Family Resilience Approach, I felt depressed because my family doesn’t have resilience at all. Whenever we have a problem, we really don’t care about it. I am not sure why my family doesn’t even talk about problems; maybe it is because we are typical Asian family who actually don’t talk much. My father tends to talk less even though he talks with his friends on Chinese Facebook. My mother tends to talk more than he does, but she also tries to look everything is okay. Although we face a financial problem or a death of grandmother, we didn’t talk each other. Because I grew up with quiet parents, I also don’t want to talk about my hardships or any problems to my family. My older sister is too emotional and gets angry so easily, so we try to not talk face to face when we have a problem. I think my family don’t have a serious crisis, but also don’t have intimacy. I see this is a quiet crisis because we as a family don’t seem like a real family. We don’t have resilience because we don’t look like a family, and I want to fix it.…

    • 427 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays