THEEmotional dependence is one disabling and dysfunctional condition in which a person often develops a excessive and unhealthy attachment towards another person, usually a to the detriment of one’s well-being and their autonomy. Recognizing and dealing with an emotional addiction is essential to improving one’s quality of life and therefore building more balanced and healthy relationships as a couple.
Emotional dependence: the signs to recognize it
Intense fear of abandonmentthat is, the constant feeling that the other person may leave us, often accompanied by anxiety and insecurity.
Excessive sacrificethat is, the fact of always putting the needs of others before one’s own, often neglecting oneself.
Low self-esteemthat is, you feel incomplete or worthless without the other person’s approval or presence.
Toxic cycles in relationships
Jealousy and controlwith a tendency to constantly want to monitor the other, usually for fear of losing his or her love.
Emotional dependencewhen one’s happiness depends exclusively on the behavior or attention of the other person.
Difficulty being alonewhen you cannot tolerate loneliness and feel the constant need to be in a relationship as a couple.
Toxic cycles. We experience relationships characterized by extreme highs and lows, but we struggle to leave them even when they are harmful.
Strategies to overcome emotional dependence
Some strategies to overcome emotional dependence can then be the following.
Recognize the problem
The first step is in fact to admit, to yourself and then to others, that you suffer from an emotional addiction. Reflecting on your behaviors and relationship patterns can help you develop awareness.
Work on self-esteem
Then cultivate theself-awareness and the sense of personal value. You can do this for example by practicing activities or tasks that reward you and trying to recognize your successes, even small ones.
Learn to be alone
So train yourself to spend time with yourself, appreciating solitude as an opportunity to grow. Reading, playing sports or artistic activities, meditating, being in contact with nature and animals or dedicating yourself to hobbies are possible ways to do this.
Establish healthy, clear boundaries
that is, learn to say no, to be assertive and to recognize and satisfy your needs. The Functional relationships are based on the mutual balance between giving and receiving.
Psychological support and help
See a therapist to explore the root causes of emotional addiction, such as unresolved childhood experiences or past traumas. Cognitive-behavioral or systemic-relational therapy can be particularly useful and effective in this sense.
Expand your social network
That is, try to build safe and reliable bonds with friends and family so as not to be emotionally dependent on just one person.
Focus on your personal goals
Cultivate interests, ambitions, projects and passions that do not concern your relationship as a couple. This will help you find your center again.
Practice gratitude towards yourself
For example, practice self-compassion, accepting your mistakes or limitations without judgment and learning to treat yourself with the same kindness and care you reserve for others.
A process that requires motivation and commitment
It is important to understand and remember that the process of recognizing and overcoming emotional dependence requires motivation, time, commitment and patience. With the right support and good dedication you can in fact learn to change, that is, love yourself and then build more fulfilling and functional relationships and therefore a healthier and more balanced emotional and emotional life.
When loving hurts, the book on emotional addiction
THE’Lovein its healthiest and most constructive manifestations, represents a profound and innate human needand implies an important motivation and a secure and functional attachment to others. Vice versa, when love turns into a habit of sufferingto the point of becoming what is defined as a real “emotional addiction”, presents itself as a pain capable of causing serious problems psychological, physical and relational.
In this condition, increasingly widespread in the contemporary world, the couple’s relationship is experienced as an indispensable prerequisite for one’s existence and this represents the antithesis of self-love.
In this volume the author provides an in-depth, complete and detailed examination of emotional addiction, based on an exhaustive analysis of the currently existing scientific literature.
The objective is to provide the reader with a clear idea of what emotional dependence is, how it is conceptualized and how it can manifest itself. As well as his own causes and strategies and intervention techniques to face and overcome it.
The Author
iO Donna © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED