Codependency and Enabling According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2015), codependency is defined as being a psychological condition or a relationship in which a person exhibiting low self-esteem and a strong wish for approval has an unhealthy connection to another person. Because of this unhealthy connection, that person places the needs of the other before their own. To enable is defined as making someone or something able to do something or to be something. Both of these terms can be used to describe situations that have nothing to do with substance abuse, however, for the purpose of this paper codependency and enabling will be looked at in regards to how they affect and/or contribute to a person’s substance use disorders.
Codependency and Substance Use When it comes to substance abuse, codependency refers to the obvious and harmful emotional participation of a person in the life of an addict (Drug Addiction Treatment, 2010). These people tend to ignore, deny, justify, and empower the addict. Codependents often feel responsible for the addict’s actions, feelings, thoughts, well-being, lack of well-being, and even their fate. Because of this, the codependent usually feels anxiety, pity, and/or guilt for the substance
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Because codependents want to please and care for the substance abuser, they often enable them in an attempt to rescue them from having to deal with the consequences associated with the addiction. If a substance abuser continues to have someone who puts their needs before their own and/or has someone who bails them out whenever needed they have no reasons to have to get help. Because of this enabling and codependency can both prolong the addiction, regardless if they are both present or not, and therefore should be eliminated in order for the substance abuser to receive the help they