Explores the variety of codependency theories and the origins of the notion. Offers a theological assessment and critique of such theoretical frameworks and suggests a sample of pastoral responses to codependency theories.C o depen den cy theories provide vocabularies that are frequently used to describe patterns in sexual and familial relationships. They appear in countless self-help books,' are used by dozens of support groups," and have been adopted by an increasing number of therapists, social workers, and pastoral counselors. Most importantly, many persons, especially women, have found the language of codependency to be a helpful description of their own experiences, circumstances, and actions. Pastoral caregivers'must develop a critical theological understanding of these theories if they are to minister effectively to such persons.Those who use the label codependency characterize it in terms of both specific behaviors and more general descriptions of the identity of the codependent person. Specific behaviors of a codependent person might include trying to manage or control another's (especially a partner's) feelings and behavior even when one has relatively little power to change the other; constantly worrying about the whereabouts and activities (e.g., while under the influence of alcohol) of one's partner; or trying to cover up or compensate for the embarrassing, inappropriate, or destructive actions of one's partner. According to advocates of codependency theory, these behaviors reflect an identity characterized by obsession with or attachment to one's partner, emotional overinvolvement or enmeshment in someone else's life, personal boundary distortions, a lost selfhood, and alienation from one's own feelings, needs, and desires.Codependency theorists thus assume that emotional investment in relationships, especially the process of rooting self-identity in one's connections to (rather than autonomy from) others, is more problematic than not.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract