A Catholic Woman's Guide to Recovery from Codependence

Book excerpt: God gave women the ability to create and nurture life. During pregnancy, a woman makes room in her mind, body, and heart for another person-one who requires love and support to survive. While these are noble qualities, giving too much can have negative effects. In A Catholic Woman's Guide to Recovery from Codependence, Brenda Daly, PhD, LCSW, explores the dark side of a woman's natural tendency to nurture and support: a soul sickness known as codependence. In caring for an alcoholic partner, for example, a woman may shift imperceptibly from caregiver to enabler. Just as her partner comes to depend on alcohol, so can a woman depend on supporting her sick partner, forming a codependent relationship that benefits no one. Daly writes that codependence often arises from a woman's low self-esteem-an obsession with external forces and a diminishment of the self. In her book, Daly uses scripture and meditations to help women escape the spiritual prison of codependence and turn their great capacity for love toward God-for to love God is to love oneself.