Codependency: An Interpersonal Phenomenon

In the popular and clinical lit, codependency has been defined as a disease (Wegscheider-Cruse, 1985), a personality disorder (Cermak, 1986), and a maladaptive way of relating to others (Fischer, Spann, & Crawford, 1991). These definitions and descriptions of codependency in the typically emanate from a linear perspective of individual pathology, yet the construct is interpersonal in nature and does not exist in isolation. From a social-psychological position, clinical and popular models of codependency rich person overlooked the impact of the interpersonal environment on codependent behaviour and on judgments of codependency. A mortal exhibiting behaviors such as across-responsibility for others and neglect of 1’s own needs whitethorn be viewed differently in the linguistic context of a human relationship in which their collaborator fails to exhibit equivalent concern and attention than in a kinship of mutuality and reciprocity. From the view of differential might, Hagan (1989) has called codependency a euphemism for the practice of dominance and mastery.

Foster, Kasl (1989) has referred to codependency as a “disease of inequality” and a term for...