Co-Dependence: Misunderstood--Mistreated

The explosive bestseller that revolutionized our understanding of the addictive process.

Drawing on her background in psychotherapy and recovery, Schaef outlines how counselors and therapists frequently miss the underlying illness. The book defines co-dependence as an insidious disease in its own right rather than a mere secondary reaction to an alcoholic partner.

Schaef investigates how families, schools, and churches systematically foster perfectionism, dishonesty, and frozen feelings. The text pairs living process therapy with Twelve Step programs to guide recovering persons toward lasting sobriety.

With a new introduction addressing the backlash to the co-dependency movement.

• Dysfunctional Family Roles: Identifies how household members adopt rigid coping roles, including the responsible hero, the rebellious scapegoat, the withdrawn lost child, and the stress-relieving mascot.
• People-Pleasing Behaviors: Explores how individuals in cling-clung partnerships surrender personal boundaries, mistaking another person’s anger, fear, or confusion for their own.
• Mental Health and Physical Toll: Uncovers how constant efforts to manage uncontrollable crises produce chronic headaches, gastrointestinal ulcers, and high blood pressure.
• Also by This Author: Meditations for Women Who Do Too Much, Escape from Intimacy and Meditations for Living In Balance.