How Codependent Relationships Make Recovery Harder

Codependency is a commonly used term that has multiple applications, though many people may not understand exactly what it means.

Some use it to describe any romantic relationship between someone that is addicted to drugs or alcohol and another individual, but not all relationships involving addiction have to be codependent, and codependent relationships can exist entirely outside of substance use.

This article will define codependency, discuss the signs of codependent relationships, and show how this cycle can be broken.

What is Codependency?

Codependent relationship between man and woman involving alcohol use

A codependent relationship, at its core, is severely unbalanced. It involves one person taking a very passive, care-taking role in the relationship or one person trying to control the other. Either way, it’s an unhealthy relationship that fosters resentment in one or both partners and tends to ultimately end in disaster.

The “co” in codependency refers to the fact that both partners depend on the other excessively and can’t seem to function outside of a relationship. When an addiction is involved, this often takes the form of an addicted person needing someone to take care of them, whether financially, cleaning up after their messes, or bailing them out of trouble. At the same time, the non-addicted partner needs someone to take care of, whether to feel needed or because they are simply repeating a pattern learned in childhood.

Signs of a Codependent Relationship

Symptoms of a codependent relationship include:

  • Low self-esteem
  • An inability to say “no” to your partner
  • Poor boundaries
  • Defensiveness
  • Controlling behaviors
  • Putting your partner’s needs before your own
  • Poor communication
  • Becoming obsessed with the relationship
  • Denying your own feelings or needs
  • Unbalanced desire for intimacy (e.g., One person feels smothered, while the other feels neglected.)

While this kind of relationship appears to meet the needs of both partners, it’s ultimately destructive. One partner can’t be a caretaker for another in a healthy, adult romantic relationship. This not only leads to resentment, it’s a perfect environment for enabling the addicted person’s problem. Enabling is a behavioral pattern where someone prevents their loved one from feeling the negative consequences of their actions. As a result, the person with a substance use disorder (SUD) may not realize the severity of their problem.

Codependency and the stress of an unhealthy relationship make recovery incredibly difficult. 

Breaking out of a Codependent Relationship

In a codependent relationship, it may appear as though the addicted individual is causing all of the problems, and the other partner is the victim. The truth is that both partners have mental health issues that need treatment before they can be in a truly healthy relationship. This is not a rare phenomenon; over 1 in 5 American adults experiences mental illness in a given year, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Because both partners have serious issues, it’s often very difficult to work out codependent relationships. As much as the partners may love each other, they may need to split up and work out their issues before the relationship can function in a healthy way.

Addiction is very hard to overcome without treatment, and people who end up in codependent relationships tend to slip into these behaviors again and again until the underlying problem drawing them into these toxic situations is resolved.

If you or a loved one is struggling with substance use issues, Recovery First Treatment Center in South Florida can help. Please reach out to an admissions navigator at to learn more about the various types of addiction treatment and behavioral therapies provided, or to start the admissions process.

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