Avoiding Codependent Relationships

As we spend the month discussing healthy relationships, it’s important for parents to be able to identify what makes a healthy relationship and what creates a codependent relationship.

OHealthy’s article “Answers to Your Questions on Codependency” defines codependency as: an emotional and behavioral condition. It affects a person’s ability to have healthy, mutually satisfying relationships.

“Originally, codependent was a term used to describe people living with, or in a relationship with, an alcoholic or addicted person,” says Judy Stange, Ph.D., Dr. Stange is senior advisor for health care reform at Mental Health America in Alexandria, Va. “Today, however, the term has broadened to describe any codependent person from any dysfunctional family.”

What are the signs?

Q. How can you tell if you’re codependent?

A. Codependents often have these traits:

• An exaggerated sense of responsibility for the actions of others
• A tendency to do more than their share, all of the time
• An extreme need for approval and recognition
• A tendency to become hurt when people don’t recognize their efforts
• A drive to do anything to hold on to a relationship
• A sense of guilt when being assertive
• A need to control others
• A lack of trust in self and/or others
• Difficulty identifying feelings
• Problems with boundaries

If you see several of these traits in yourself, talk with a mental health provider, Dr. Strange says. “Effective treatment is available.”

Visit OHealthy to read the full article.

How do you keep your relationships balanced? Please share your comments in the box below.