Co-Dependency – an abused term

  • Melody Beattie (published ‘Co-dependent no more‘, 1986) and Robin Norwood (published ‘Women Who Love Too Much‘, 1985) popularized the term co-dependency in their self-help books, borrowing a concept from Alcohol and addiction research and applying it to romantic relationships. This popularization led to an influx of publications, almost obscuring the original meaning of the term and it’s application to describe relationships with alcohol.