Research Outline

Codependent Persona

Goals

An understanding of the personal affected by codependency, what drives them to seek out a retreat service around codependency, what they look when evaluating treatment decisions, and any other data that would inform selling points on a website aimed at selling a retreat to codependents

Early Findings

  • Codependents most often are individuals who have come from a family where one or more members had either an addiction of some kind (drugs, alcohol, sex, or work), an abusive family, or a family with a member with a chronic mental illness.
  • In fact, of codependents surveyed, 69% had a family where there was either alcoholism, sexual abuse, or physical violence.
  • Once source notes women are more likely to be codependent than men, because society tends to amplify the same care taking behaviors common in codependents.
  • However, another source notes that the gender differences are minimal, with codependency being just slightly more common for women, and manifesting in different ways. Women tend to be overly helpful and overly giving, whereas codependent men tend to act as protectors and rescuers.
  • One relevant challenge noted that inhibits people from seeking treatment is that codependent individuals are often in denial that they have a problem at all.
  • The in person support group most frequented by codependents is CODA (Co-Dependents Anonymous, a 12 step program for codependency).