Codependency

Codependency and the Enabler
I'm Sorry
by Jay Krunszyinsky
When you were a child, did you grow up in a home where your parents or caretakers took little to no responsibility for their problems or behaviors? Did you witness a parent support the behavior of the other regardless of how destructive it was?

Recovery Hints
Adult Children of Alcoholics
by Janet Woititz
It is important to be clear what recovery means for adult children. Alcoholism is a disease. People recovering from alcoholism are recovering from a disease. The medical model is accepted by all responsible folks working in alcoholism treatment.

Facing Fear and Finding Freedom
Approval Addiction: Overcoming Your Need to Please Everyone
by Joyce Meyer
So many people today have an unhealthy need for affirmation and are unable to feel good about themselves without it. These 'approval addicts' spend their time in a constant struggle with low self-esteem and emotional turmoil-which leads to major problems

Making Contact With Others
Lifeskills for Adult Children
by Janet Woititz, Alan Garner, M.A.
Adult children cringe at the idea of having to make small talk. Growing up in a dysfunctional family means that social skills were not adequately developed. Few people really enjoy small talk, but it is a necessary part of the socialization process.

Accepting Powerlessness, The Detachment Step
Codependents' Guide to the Twelve Steps
by Melody Beattie
Some of us have an easy time accepting the premise in this Step: that we are powerless over others. By the time we get to this Step, we're ready to give up and give in, Others have a struggle accepting powerlessness.

Step One
Codependents' Guide to the Twelve Steps
by Melody Beattie
I thought I was in complete control of myself and others. I thought there was no circumstance too overwhelming, no feeling so great that I couldn't handle it by sheer force of willpower. I thought being in control was expected of me. It was my job.

Other Stories of Unmanageability
Codependents' Guide to the Twelve Steps
by Melody Beattie
But I'm not in that much trouble, you might be thinking. My response is: good. You don't have to be in a lot of trouble to recognize unmanageability and begin recovering from codependency. It takes many of us much pain to become ready for recovery.

The Roots of Control
Codependents' Guide to the Twelve Steps
by Melody Beattie
The belief that we have power over other people is a powerful belief - a destructive illusion that many of us learned in childhood. Listen to how some recovering people were trained to believe they had control over others.

The Program
Get Your Loved One Sober: Alternatives to Nagging, Pleading, and Threatening
by Robert J. Meyers, Ph.D., Brenda L. Wolfe, Ph.D.
Here is a book for those who have tried everything to get their loved ones sober-from scolding and nagging, to begging and bribing, and even detaching-all to no avail. Using this compassionate yet effective approach, spouses, lovers, parents, or children