Melody Beattie's Codependent No More

Summary

What exactly is the meaning of the term codependent? Codependency is described as an excessive emotional or psychological reliance on a partner, specifically a partner who requires support due to sickness or an addiction. In “Co-dependent No More”, author Melody Beattie describes the key to understanding codependency while unraveling its hampering hold on an individual’s life. Beattie wrote her book which can be used as a self-improvement book that helps guide humans to investigate into their own retched thoughts and attack them head on. Beattie’s book also guides readers to learn to detach themselves from toxicity in other humans. She describes throughout her book to leave individuals that cause others harm whether it be

The story is told by Jessica, a 32-year-old woman married to an alcoholic. She describes throughout the first chapter than she cannot function in life anymore and that she suffers from depression due to codependency. She states that when she is awoken and not taking naps which she describes is a necessity, she often is uncontrollable with her feelings and is always blaming her alcoholic husband for everything. She declares that she switches from different emotional factors including anger to fear while describing how her mood changes throughout her day. The chapter goes on to describe that the husband becomes sober but indeed Jessica was affected by the husband’s drunkenness and made the situation her problem. Beattie describes that Jessica was not insane but that she was codependent. Chapter 2 describes a man named Gerald who was married into an unhealthy relationship for thirteen years until him and his ex-wife divorced. Gerald was a successful man but was not victorious at relationships. After his divorce, Gerald moved on to a similar woman like his first relationship, a daily alcoholic. Gerald’s life was consumed around alcoholics in the attempt to save them. Gerald admitted to being codependent. Beattie uses different stories from different types of people in chapter 2 to describe the complexity of codependency. Beattie uses the next chapter to describe the definition of codependency while giving a

Beattie uses chapter 4 to describe certain codependent characteristics. Certain individual behaviors include: anger, miscellaneous, controlling, overprotective, repression, caretaking,