Describe the concept of codependency. Summarize the treatment programs that are available for codependents

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Codependent people are so trapped by a loved one's addiction that they lose their own identity in the process of obsessively managing the day-to-day trauma created by the addict. Codependency is unhealthy behavior learned amid chaos. Some codependents are as dysfunctional as the addict, if not more so. Living with addiction triggers excessive caregiving, suppression of one's own needs, feelings of low self-worth, and strained relationships. Many codependents grow up in a dysfunctional family. (Some are adult children of alcoholics.) They marry or become romantically involved with someone who abuses alcohol or some other drug. To some extent, the addict fills the need of the codependent-to be a caregiver, to feel inferior, and so on. Codependency can thus be viewed as a normal reaction to abnormal stress.
The addict may terminate the use of his or her drug of choice, but the codependent's dysfunctional behaviors generally continue, unless he or she receives treatment. There are a variety of treatment approaches for codependents: individual psychotherapy, group therapy, and self-help groups (such as Al-Anon, Adult Children of Alcoholics, and Codependents Anonymous). For many codependents, treatment involves recognition that they have a life and an identity separate from the addict, that the addict alone is responsible for his or her substance abuse, and that their life and the addict's will improve by terminating their caregiving and enabling behaviors. Through treatment, many codependents regain (or gain for the first time) their own identity and banish the self-destructive habits that sabotage their happiness.?