Counsellor/Therapist, addiction and mental Health , psychosocial intervention , anxiety and stress management
The main sign of codependency is consistently elevating the needs of others above your own. Other signs include controlling behaviors, self-sacrifice, and fear of rejection. But these aren’t the only ones. We help with emphasizing that the importance is to seak self love and self care above all and see self value.
Do you have relationships where you feel compelled to "save" them by attending to all of their needs and in turn you neglect all of your own needs? Or do you experience in relationships feeling like you need the other person to take care of you but you also feel smothered or resentment? Codependency in relationships comes from attachment wounds, which can be understood and healed so that you can end unhealthy relationships or work to change behavioural patterns in relationships in your present life. I can help you learn to make these changes and better understand your relational patterns.
I believe it is important to interrogate the etiology of codependency which has become such a buzz word in pop psychology. Codependency may have its roots in early attachment trauma - the inability of a caregiver to form a safe and stable relationship with their child. However, it is also important to honour the cultural diversity of being in relationship and being in community. Western culture tells us we are supposed to be happy alone, when this is not the way humans lived for millennia. Collectivist cultures show us a different story of what it is to be in relationship.
Ultimately, learning to cultivate a sense of secure attachment, along with agency and flexible boundaries may be a way to walk the middle path in addressing codependency concerns.
Counsellor/Therapist, Registered Psychotherapist, Qualifying
Codependency is a natural part of relationship. I can offer you support to better understand your own needs and identify your physical, psychological, emotional, spiritual, sexual and social boundaries to maintain your energy, express your voice and reclaim your power.