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Addiction Codependency
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The term ‘Codependent’ was first used in the treatment of alcohol addiction, in reference to those whose lives were seriously affected by the addict, and who stayed to take care of the addict. Since the 1980s, the meaning of Codependency and Codependent Behavior has evolved. Today, a codependent person is defined as one who has a damaging relationship with an addict or an abusive person, and also has disabling personal traits that cause them to become obsessed with control or cure of the person with whom they have the relationship. The co-dependent patient is overly involved with their partner, spouse or family member often to the their own detriment. The patient becomes a care-taker for the other person and strives to help them be successful, or maintain health and well-being, often enabling the other person’s behavior by putting out fires, paying their debts, and taking care of their basic needs.
The patient’s sense of self-esteem hinges on their ability to control and please others using sheer willpower. To maintain this balance, the patient denies their own needs and feelings, and stays in the relationship in spite of emotional, and sometimes, physical pain. There are two schools of thought about the Codependent condition. Some doctors feel that the condition exists only as a set of symptoms displayed by family and/or spouses of addicts.
Other doctors recognize and treat the more recently, and broadly, defined disorder with behavioral therapy and other techniques. Much of the treatment is based on a 12-step program modified from Alcoholics Anonymous and other addiction self-help programs.
Symptoms include:
Doctors will perform a physical exam to rule out other health or mental disorders. Some or all of the symptoms of codependency can stem from other problems, so it is important to understand that not everyone who has symptoms is codependent.
Treatment(s) can include:
StatisticsNeither the National Institute of Health nor the National Institute for Mental Health track separate statistics for Codependency, so there is no way to estimate prevalence in American adults or children. Research illustrates a connection between behavior and emotions in co-dependence, with stimulation of brain chemicals like epinephrine, dopamine, and serotonin in response to the emotions created by these behaviors, causing the patient to feel effects similar to a physically addictive ‘high’ (like those experienced in drug addiction) Of 73 women participating in a 10-day residential Codependency program, more than 50% experienced clinical signs of codependence on 5 or more measurement scales. 38% showed elevated brain chemistry on 6 or more of the measurement scales, displaying signs of stimulation comparable to certain physical addictions. |
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