Co-dependency is the need to maintain a one-sided relationship that can either be emotionally destructive or abusive. In psychotherapy, confronting co-dependent behavior enhances self-assurance and self-acceptance. Essentially co-dependency in clinical support determines an individual’s ability to form and maintain healthy and mutually satisfying relationships and is leveraged in therapy to enable patients to relieve stress-related or depressive symptoms and foster healthy relationships. Psychological reliance on family members and relationships is predominant in therapies linked with the family systems theory to enhance emotional functioning. Co-dependence in clinical settings is well-defined and understood when linked with the Family Systems theory that posits that the family is the most single, interdependent unit of emotional support.
The family has the highest potential to form intimate relationships and confront overreliance behavior with the appropriate psychoeducational intervention. Scaturro et al. (2014) underscore that co-dependence fusion may influence emotional distress if not applied using the appropriate strategies. For instance, psychoeducational intervention ought to distinguish between co-dependence and normative nurturant behaviors to avoid overgeneralization by the partners. However, Lee (2014) highlights the shortcomings and limitations of co-dependence, including language, the end of the relationship, training addiction professionals, and shaping perceptions. Integrating co-dependence with the family systems theory requires appropriate measures to enhance complementarity.
The research position that co-dependency is practical in the context of family systems theory since families form the strongest bond to determine an individual’s behavior. The research position by Scaturo et al. (2014) indicates how family systems theory can be used to influence emotional attachments and practical treatment while articulating family dynamics that may inhibit co-dependency treatment. Helping the family understand a new perspective of how addiction and its influence on the patient’s behavior positively implicate co-dependency.
References
Lee, B. K. (2014). Where co-dependency takes us: A commentary. Web.
Scaturro, D. J., Hayes, T., Sagula, D., & Walter, T. (2000). The concept of co-dependency and its context within family systems theory. Family Therapy: The Journal of the California Graduate School of Family Psychology, 27(2). Web.