Codependency As A Personal Characteristic Of Specialists In “helping” Professions

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

The subject of this research is the phenomenon of codependency. This concept first appeared in 1979. It was discovered by Robert Subby and Ernie Larsen. Initially, this concept referred only to the wives of alcoholics, whose life was subject to negative changes in connection with living with a dependent partner. Behind each problem was a family history of an alcoholic patient.

Further, this concept included other problems: food and gambling addiction, dependence on work and the Internet, as well as sexual addiction. Common to all types of problems was that the immediate environment, relatives of addicts suffered from a certain set of violations. Their behavior had a lot in common, like the wives of alcoholics [3].

So, a person with traits of codependent behavior is one whose life has been affected by the addiction or illness of a loved one. Codependent people try to control everyone and everything except themselves and their lives [1].

Moskalenko V. D. and other authors point to the relationship between codependency and dependence of a loved one. Korolenko Ts. P. and Dmitrieva N. V. they call codependency a deviation in the sphere of relations, which “… presupposes mutual dependence on each other” [2, p.278].

Specialists studying the phenomenon of codependency (V. Moskalenko, E. Emelyanova, O. Shorokhova) distinguish several groups of codependents:

- spouses and close relatives (especially children) of drug and alcohol addicts;

- relatives and close circle of people with chronic diseases;

- parents of children with behavioral problems;

- persons who grew up in emotionally repressive families.

VD Moskalenko also suggests considering an additional group of codependents: these are people of "helping professions" - working in the field of pedagogy, psychology and medicine. We believe that this group includes specialists in social work [4].

Codependency as a personality trait begins to form in early childhood, when by the age of three the child solves certain tasks of mental development.

If these tasks are successfully solved, then the child develops basic trust and is ready to explore the outside world. The child becomes addicted, grows up not mature in the event that it was not possible to establish a trusting relationship with the mother at an early stage. Then the child does not form an inner feeling of selfhood, "I", a sense of his uniqueness among other people. "Codependency of adults occurs when two psychologically dependent people establish relationships with each other" [5, p.5].

Employees of the Center "Overcoming" work with people with dysfunctions of the musculoskeletal system, as a result of injuries or diseases of the spine and joints, disability. Given the above groups of codependents, we suggest that working in the center can be a supportive environment for the formation and development of codependency. Thus, it is very important to identify and investigate the degree of manifestation of this phenomenon among workers in the “helping professions” of the Center “Overcoming”.

B. Winehold and J. Winehold among the symptoms of codependency indicate low self-esteem and the predominance of such psychological defenses as: projection, denial and rationalization. Thus, the hypothesis of our research is that for specialists of "helping" professions: psychologists, social and medical workers, such psychological defenses as projection, denial and rationalization, as well as a low level of self-esteem and a high level of codependency, are characteristic.

In order to identify the main indicators of codependency and compare them with those described in the literature, we selected the following methods:

- a questionnaire of the level of codependency, proposed by the authors B. Winehold and J. Winehold.

-methodology for determining the level of self-esteem Dembo-Rubinstein.

- Kellerman-Plutchik's method "Life style index" to determine the main type of psychological defenses.

The study involved 30 people: 28 women and 2 men. Age: 25 to 64 years old. Among them: 6 psychologists, 8 social work specialists and 16 medical workers. Work experience in the institution varies from one year to 12 years. Work experience is important to consider because it creates conditions for the development of codependent traits. O. Shorokhova points out: “Infection with this disease, like any other, occurs gradually, and for each person - due to his character, personality characteristics, lifestyle, life experience, past events, infection and the course of the disease occurs in a specific way, only to him in an inherent way”[6, p.6].

The Kellerman-Plutchik technique revealed the following results:

Projection = 43.3%, Regression = 23.3%, Negation = 16.6%, Rationalization = 16.6%.

Thus, we see that the most frequently used types of psychological defense are projection, regression, denial and rationalization, which indicates the presence of codependent behaviors.

According to the methodology for determining the level of self-esteem Dembo-Rubinstein, the following results were obtained: on all test scales ("intelligence, abilities", "character", "authority among peers", "the ability to do a lot with your own hands, skillful hands", "appearance", "confidence in oneself”), a level corresponding to an adequate level was revealed, which is located in the range from 68 to 71, 8. These data indicate the absence of deviations in the field of self-esteem and self-attitude, which are inherent in people with codependent behaviors.

According to the questionnaire to determine the level of codependency, proposed by B. Winehold and J. Winehold, the level of codependency = 38.5 was revealed, which corresponds to the average degree of codependency.

Thus, summarizing the results of our research, we can draw the following conclusions:

• For specialists of "helping" professions: psychologists, social and medical workers, certain types of psychological defenses are characteristic. Namely: projection, regression, denial and rationalization;
• Revealed the presence of codependency - the average degree of manifestation in the tested group;
• For all indicators, an adequate level of self-esteem was revealed.

Thus, the hypothesis of our study is partially confirmed: the main types of psychological defenses in the group are precisely those that are described in the literature, the phenomenon of codependency is present. At the same time, in our sample, the level of codependency is average, and self-esteem for all measured parameters corresponds to an adequate level.

This can be explained by the following reasons:

• The employees of the Overcoming Center regularly undergo training, professional development, and a program for the prevention of professional burnout has been introduced in the center. Thus, the impact of the work environment, as one of the risk factors, is mitigated. And also a favorable psychological climate in the team can play a big role.
• The sample includes people with different work experience. People who have worked little in the “helping” profession are less affected by this risk factor.

Thanks to the revealed results, we can set new research tasks:

• To study the degree of manifestation of codependency, depending on the length of service.
• To study the degree of manifestation of codependency, in contrast to the field of activity of specialists: medicine and psychology.
• Develop a program for the prevention of codependent personality traits for workers in “helping” professions.

Bibliography:

1. Beatty M. Alcoholism in the family and overcoming codependency / Per. from English - M.: Physical culture and sport. - 1997.
2. Ts. P. Korolenko, N. V. Dmitrieva Personal and dissociative disorders: expanding the boundaries of diagnosis and therapy // Monograph. / Novosibirsk: Publishing house of NGPU, 2006.
3. Korolenko Ts. P., Donskikh T. A. Seven Ways to Disaster. Novosibirsk: Science, 1990.
4. Moskalenko V. D. Addiction: a familial illness. M.: PERSE, 2004.
5. Winehold B., Winehold J. Liberation from codependency / Translated from English by A. G. Cheslavskaya. M.: Independent firm "Class", 2006.
6. Shorokhova O. A. Life traps of addiction and codependency. SPb.: Rech, 2002.