Abstract
Using an overview of the controversial concept of codependency as a backdrop, the paper summarizes outcomes of a project devoted to developing and applying a technique for assessing codependent relating. Results support the clinically based contention that there is a pattern of relating in dysfunctional relationships that warrants the label “codependent,” and that some (but not all) cases of such relating stem from a distinctive codependency personality syndrome. These results gave rise to a perspective that combines a relational process with a dispositional view of codependent relating, and proposes that codependency may be either endogenous (chronic) or exogenous (reactive).
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Wright, P.H., Wright, K.D. The Two Faces of Codependent Relating: A Research-Based Perspective. Contemporary Family Therapy 21, 527–543 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021679222403
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021679222403