![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Questionable Concepts: Codependency
Apr. 28th, 2009 11:54 pmI've had some of these thoughts in the back of my mind for some time now, based on everything from some of my own past relationships to the work I do with domestic violence programs for the state. What brought them forward was some of the reading and discussion in my Human Behavior class this semester.
The summary: What one of the readings called "the language of codependency" is, in my view, anti-feminist in the extreme as well as imprecise and easy to misapply. This language is on my list of Things To Avoid As A Clinician.
The long version follows:
( Part 1: One Term, Too Many Definitions )
( Part 2: Problems With The Original Definition )
( Part 3: Codependency Is A Woman's Job! )
( Part 4: Co-option of co-dependent )
( Epilogue: By The Way, Why Doesn't She Just Leave? )
EDIT TO ADD: I was actually able to find an online copy of one of the articles used in my class. If you don't mind doing the somewhat more scholarly reading involved, you can look at it here. The article proposes "over-responsible" and "under-responsible" as alternative terminology, which I find useful. (Sort of like how I find my concept of "Depressed Logic" more useful than defining depression-induced thoughts that contradict objective reality as "irrational".)
The summary: What one of the readings called "the language of codependency" is, in my view, anti-feminist in the extreme as well as imprecise and easy to misapply. This language is on my list of Things To Avoid As A Clinician.
The long version follows:
( Part 1: One Term, Too Many Definitions )
( Part 2: Problems With The Original Definition )
( Part 3: Codependency Is A Woman's Job! )
( Part 4: Co-option of co-dependent )
( Epilogue: By The Way, Why Doesn't She Just Leave? )
EDIT TO ADD: I was actually able to find an online copy of one of the articles used in my class. If you don't mind doing the somewhat more scholarly reading involved, you can look at it here. The article proposes "over-responsible" and "under-responsible" as alternative terminology, which I find useful. (Sort of like how I find my concept of "Depressed Logic" more useful than defining depression-induced thoughts that contradict objective reality as "irrational".)
