Shrink Rap: Co-dependency

10 Mar Shrink Rap: Co-dependency

[click “Play” to Dr. Hokemeyer’s conversation with Susan]

Thankfully, none of Telluride Inside… and Out’s relationships with the various players in the region’s robust cultural economy are co-dependent. They are happy and mutually satisfying.

According to part-timeTelluride local Dr. Paul Hokemeyer, the source of TIO’s Shrink Rap, co-dependency is an emotional and behavioral condition that occurs when people form and maintain one-sided, emotionally and/or physically abusive relationships. Co-dependency is a construct that focuses on a person’s reliance on something outside himself to regulate how he feels on the inside.

Introduced in the 1980s in popular literature to describe behaviors that impede personal functioning, codependency has its genesis from studies of dysfunctional patterns of relationships that wives developed with alcoholic husbands. Out of these observations came the recognition that it is not just the alcoholic who needed treatment, but that other members of their families suffered from the disease of addiction and needed treatment as well. Today, the concept of codependency has been extended to include anyone who finds himself in a dysfunctional relationship regardless of whether or not substance abuse is involved.

To learn more about the co-dependency, including the signs, click the “play” button and listen to Dr. Hokemeyer’s interview.

 Dr. Hokemeyer is a nationally recognized expert on Eastern philosophies, relationships, and emotional healing. A Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, he holds a PhD in psychology, as well as a doctorate in the law. A part-time Telluride resident, Dr. Hokemeyer is based in the New York City office of the Caron Treatment Centers. He is also a weekly contributor to “The Dr. Oz Show,” CNN’s “Headline News,” and other media outlets, including “Good Morning America,” “truTV,” and “Oprah Radio.” His new column, Shrink Rap, is scheduled to appear at least bi-monthy every Thursday on Telluride Inside… and Out.