View Single Post
Old 01-23-2011, 02:32 PM
  # 2 (permalink)  
LexieCat
A work in progress
 
LexieCat's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: South Jersey
Posts: 16,633
I'm not that fond of the term "co-dependent" mainly because it gets tossed around pretty freely. Maybe that's me being snobbish, I dunno. People don't seem to use it in a consistent way, and as far as I know it isn't an actual diagnosis.

I think anyone who cares deeply about an alcoholic or addict behaves in unhealthy ways, at least until they learn better. Rules for relationships that make sense when you are dealing with a non-addict can be positively harmful when applied to a relationship with an addict. Plus, addicts are very adept liars and manipulators. Not because they are evil (necessarily), but because that's how they have to behave for the disease to continue. So we wind up feeling like idiots and victims a whole lot--not healthy for us.

Rather than attempt to diagnose yourself as "codie" or "not-codie", it might be more helpful to simply examine the ways in which your thinking and your self-esteem have been affected by living with the alcoholic. Most of us learn to cope in ways that become habitual and carry over even when the addict/alcoholic is clean and sober, or when we have left the relationship. To the extent you can see those things and straighten out your own thinking, you will have a happier future to look forward to.
LexieCat is offline