Am I in a Codependent Relationship?

What is codependency?

You may be in a codependent relationship if you “over-function” and your partner (or friend or family member) “under-functions”. In other words, you put too much focus on doing things for other people but neglect your own needs.

Codependent relationships can exist between spouses, parents and children, friends, co-workers, etc. For simplicity, I’m using the term partner in this article.

People with codependent traits are often caretakers who get consumed by trying to help, fix, or change their partners. Many codependents have relationships with people struggling with addiction, mental health problems, compulsive behaviors such as gambling or sex or pornography, or narcissism. But even if this isn’t the case, your partner probably under-functions (relies on you to make some aspects of his/her life work), and you over-function (enable, advise, nag, help, fix, or rescue).

Am I codependent?

Codependency isn’t all or nothing. I find it helpful to think of codependency on a continuum. You may identify with all or only a few of the traits listed below.

The quantity of codependent traits that you have isn’t as important as how much distress they cause you. If these relationship dynamics are causing you significant problems, they are worth addressing. Otherwise, you’re likely to repeat the pattern in other relationships.

Codependency shows up in relationships, but its roots are in how you feel about yourself. So, codependent relationship dynamics will follow you into other relationships until you learn to balance taking care of others with taking care of yourself.

If you’re in a codependent relationship, you may feel “less than” and like there’s something fundamentally wrong with you. As result you constantly try to prove your worth by working extra hard, striving for perfection, being overly responsible, and taking care of everyone else.

You may worry that you’ll be rejected and abandoned if others were to know how inadequate and insecure you are, so you’re more likely to tolerate abuse and mistreatment. You struggle to assert yourself and ask for what you want and need because you don’t feel worthy.

couple disconnected — Photo from Canva.com

Signs of a codependent relationship

Your partner’s problems or issues take up a lot of your time and/or energy.
You don’t want to give up on your partner; you believe s/he’ll eventually change.
You go out of your way to avoid conflicts.
You spend more time taking care of others than you do taking care of yourself.
Your moods are dependent on how your partner is feeling.
You worry about what people think of you.
No matter how much you do, it’s never enough.
You feel like there’s something wrong with you and you have to keep proving your worth.
It’s hard to acknowledge your feelings, but when you do, you’re resentful, scared, frustrated.
You like to feel in control.
You work much harder on your partner’s problems than s/he does.
You make excuses for your partner.
You feel ashamed or worried about what others think; you don’t want them to know about your problems.
You defer to your partner’s opinions and wants.
You go out of your way to try to make him/her happy, but your partner doesn’t reciprocate.
You walk on eggshells around your partner.
You worry that if you don’t take care of your partner, something bad will happen.
You don’t want to believe that things are as bad as they really are.

What to do if you’re in a codependent relationship

1. Detach with love. Detaching is putting some emotional or physical space between you and your codependent partner. It doesn’t mean you’re walking away, giving up, selfish, or unloving. Detaching means you stop obsessing about your partner and his/her choices and problems. It gives you room to be a separate person; not as intertwined with your partner.

Detaching can include:

Setting boundaries
Not engaging in arguments
Leaving a situation
Staying calm rather than reacting
Considering your own feelings and needs
Choosing not to enable unhealthy or dangerous behaviors
Listening rather than trying to solve or fix problems
Not nagging and criticizing

2. Do something for yourself. Detaching is about focusing less on your partner. At the same time, you can begin to focus more on yourself. Detaching will begin to free up some of your time and energy for other things.

You may need to get reacquainted with yourself. For many years you’ve focused on what others need/want and you may have lost track of your own feelings, interests, goals, and friendships in the process. What do you like to do? Who do you like to spend time with? What are your goals? What can you do for yourself that would make you feel better?

I encourage you to pick one thing that you can do for yourself and do it today. I’m not trying to suggest that getting a manicure will change your life—but putting yourself on your to-do list is part of bringing your life back into balance and health.

3. Get support and guidance. Relationships are hard, especially where they’re not going well. The good news is you don’t have to go through this alone.

It may not feel like it, but I promise that there are people who really understand what you’re going through. You might find these people at an Al-Anon, Nar-Anon, or Codependents Anonymous meeting. You might find them in an online support forum. Or you can find support through a licensed therapist or religious/spiritual leader. Many people also tell me that when they dare to open up to friends and coworkers, they are surprised at how much compassion and understanding they get.

The things you’re going through may feel shameful and I know it’s hard to ask for help. Supportive people can make things more manageable and asking for help challenges your codependent tendency for denial and focusing on others rather than yourself.

If you’re in a codependent relationship, there is hope. Change is possible when you focus on changing yourself.

Recover from Codependency by Setting Intentions

Codependents’ Guide to Detaching with Love

Dr. Sharon Martin

Sharon Martin, DSW, LCSW is a psychotherapist and writer specializing in codependency recovery. For the past 25 years, she’s been helping perfectionists and people-pleasers overcome self-doubt and shame, embrace their imperfections, and learn to set boundaries. Dr. Martin writes the popular blog Conquering Codependency for Psychology Today and is the author of The CBT Workbook for Perfectionism and The Better Boundaries Workbook.

Leeanne

May 16, 2022 at 3:38 pm

My entire married life focused 100% on my husband’s refusal to get help for his mental illness. I married into a family that would rather blame other people for their son’s mental illness rather than admit it existed. In fact, my mother-in-law blamed me for my husband’s acts of self-harm and when her other son did the same exact thing she blamed my sister-in-law. She has two mentally ill sons in need of help but my sister-in-law and I were told we caused their behaviors. She even went so far as to tell me if anything every happened to her son it would all be my fault…yet she forbid him from getting help and never said a word when he put himself on and off medication or stopped medication abruptly. I believed every word she said and accepted responsibility for him and his behaviors. I became co-dependent and fixated on helping him. But then there was his resistance to deal with, his refusal to stay in therapy, and his non-compliance with medication. That became my responsibility too, so I cajoled, begged, cried, and demanded he get help, or I insisted he stop doing behavior A, B, or C, or I insisted he come home at night. As I made myself sick with worry and observed my husband sitting in dark rooms by himself, talking loudly to himself every morning in the bathroom, sitting at the dinner table with his head in his hands, sleeping all day, and no longer smiling, talking, or expressing joy I enlisted the help of my children whom I thought could convince him to attend therapy and take his medication. As things progressed he spent 90% of his time with his enabling mother and only came home for a few hours each night to sleep. It became obvious he was more a member of his family of origin than he was a member of our family with our kids. The small amount of time we spent with him was outweighed by the large number of hours he spent with his enabling mother and family of origin on a daily basis. If he was spending all of his time with them maybe they were the problem – and if they were the problem why didn’t they care enough to insist he get help when they obviously saw how sick he was? By that point I was sick with cancer and my kids told me to stop asking them to intervene with their father, saying he’s resistant. My only solution was to put this issue back into his mother’s hands and no longer assume responsibility for his mental illness. I understand my husband could assume responsibility for himself but that means going to therapy, taking medication, and complying with the doctors and therapists, something my mother-in-law refuses to acknowledge or encourage. In truth she has done the same exact same thing to her other son who has mental illness – she pretends he’s normal despite the fact he’s quite ill with mental illness.

1 thought on “Am I in a Codependent Relationship?”

Leeanne
May 16, 2022 at 3:38 pm

My entire married life focused 100% on my husband’s refusal to get help for his mental illness. I married into a family that would rather blame other people for their son’s mental illness rather than admit it existed. In fact, my mother-in-law blamed me for my husband’s acts of self-harm and when her other son did the same exact thing she blamed my sister-in-law. She has two mentally ill sons in need of help but my sister-in-law and I were told we caused their behaviors. She even went so far as to tell me if anything every happened to her son it would all be my fault…yet she forbid him from getting help and never said a word when he put himself on and off medication or stopped medication abruptly. I believed every word she said and accepted responsibility for him and his behaviors. I became co-dependent and fixated on helping him. But then there was his resistance to deal with, his refusal to stay in therapy, and his non-compliance with medication. That became my responsibility too, so I cajoled, begged, cried, and demanded he get help, or I insisted he stop doing behavior A, B, or C, or I insisted he come home at night. As I made myself sick with worry and observed my husband sitting in dark rooms by himself, talking loudly to himself every morning in the bathroom, sitting at the dinner table with his head in his hands, sleeping all day, and no longer smiling, talking, or expressing joy I enlisted the help of my children whom I thought could convince him to attend therapy and take his medication. As things progressed he spent 90% of his time with his enabling mother and only came home for a few hours each night to sleep. It became obvious he was more a member of his family of origin than he was a member of our family with our kids. The small amount of time we spent with him was outweighed by the large number of hours he spent with his enabling mother and family of origin on a daily basis. If he was spending all of his time with them maybe they were the problem – and if they were the problem why didn’t they care enough to insist he get help when they obviously saw how sick he was? By that point I was sick with cancer and my kids told me to stop asking them to intervene with their father, saying he’s resistant. My only solution was to put this issue back into his mother’s hands and no longer assume responsibility for his mental illness. I understand my husband could assume responsibility for himself but that means going to therapy, taking medication, and complying with the doctors and therapists, something my mother-in-law refuses to acknowledge or encourage. In truth she has done the same exact same thing to her other son who has mental illness – she pretends he’s normal despite the fact he’s quite ill with mental illness.