Op-Ed Codependency Is a Toxic Myth in Addiction Recovery

[thegreenhand]

Codependency Is a Toxic Myth in Addiction Recovery​

Maia Szalavitz
New York Times
8 Jul 2022

Excerpt:

With over seven million copies sold, Melody Beattie’s 1986 best seller, “Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself,” is considered a self-help classic and continues to sell well in a new 2022 edition.

The book popularized the idea that partners and parents of people with addiction have their own disease: codependence, which causes them to act as “enablers,” contributing to their loved ones’ continued use of substances. Like a drug, the relationship and its drama helps distract codependents from their own problems and so they resist change.

The concept has penetrated American culture. The word itself frequently appears in media and pop culture. TikTok videos on codependent relationships have hundreds of millions of views. And therapists and rehabs teach about it, as if it is a genuine psychological phenomenon.

But the influence that the concept of codependency has had on addiction treatment and policy has been toxic — and its tenets are not supported by data.

 

[RUC4]

Where is the data? I disagree.

 

[thegreenhand]

Where is the data? I disagree.

To be fair, I’m not sure the burden of proof lies on someone claiming codependency isn’t a valid clinical concept

Imo the burden should be on people who claim that it does exist to show that that is the case

 

[RUC4]

To be fair, I’m not sure the burden of proof lies on someone claiming codependency isn’t a valid clinical concept

Imo the burden should be on people who claim that it does exist to show that that is the case

I don’t think so friend. The person attempting to disprove has the burden. Codependency is a well known fact in the therapy world. There is SO MUCH truth to it that can’t really be disputed. One article does not make a case. Sorry.

 

[thegreenhand]

I don’t think so friend. The person attempting to disprove has the burden. Codependency is a well known fact in the therapy world. There is SO MUCH truth to it that can’t really be disputed. One article does not make a case. Sorry.

I’m not even necessarily agreeing with this author

I guess I’m just saying that if someone is claiming a psychological phenomenon exists, it’s on them to prove it. And it’s not on skeptics to disprove it

 

[arrall]

I don’t think so friend. The person attempting to disprove has the burden. Codependency is a well known fact in the therapy world. There is SO MUCH truth to it that can’t really be disputed. One article does not make a case. Sorry.

Can you find me some clinical data by someone with a medical degree listing 'Codependency' as a legitimate real-world mental disorder?
It is a pattern of behaviour, not a clinical disorder.