Book: Codependent No More (SH, W)

The full title of Melody Beattie's book is Codependent No More : How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself. It is appropriate for men or women; I included it as a "women's issues" books because so many women fall into the trap of codependence and then teach their daughters that this type of unhealthy "nurturing" is how females should express love to others.

This book explains codependency and offers hope to help people escape the trap of feeling responsible for other people's behavior. The book primarily uses alcoholism/drug addiction as the type of behavior that creates codependency, but it was helpful for my non-chemical-related issues as well.

This book really helped me to recognize the lies I was believing that made me feel angry and helpless. It showed me how I was letting other people's problems control me and taught me how to set better personal boundaries and to determine how involved I wanted to be in other people's drama. It doesn't teach selfishness, but rather how to love yourself and treat yourself well when unhealthy people around you try to make you carry their burdens.

This book has so much to teach that I couldn't get everything on the first read. As soon as I finished reading it, I flipped to the front and began it again. Grade: A+