codependency
codependency Lexical Profile
codependency Game Scores & Validity
• noun
An unhealthy psychological and behavioral dynamic in which a person exhibits excessive emotional or psychological reliance on a partner, typically one who requires constant support due to an illness, addiction, or dysfunctional behavior.
"Through months of counseling, they learned to recognize the patterns of codependency that had been undermining their marriage."
Word Nuance & Usage
Do not confuse 'codependency' with 'interdependence'; while 'interdependence' describes a healthy, balanced mutual reliance between autonomous individuals, 'codependency' denotes an unhealthy psychological dynamic where one person enables another's dysfunctional behavior at the expense of their own well-being.
• Rhymes for codependency
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in the late 1970s within American substance-abuse treatment and twelve-step support groups (such as Al-Anon), evolving from the earlier clinical term 'co-alcoholic' to describe family members whose lives became organized around enabling an addicted partner.