Question

Pam's son is a college student and an alcoholic. He still lives at home, and she often cleans up messes that occur when he is binge drinking. Even though she wishes desperately he was not an alcoholic, she still feels like she somehow contributes to it. She tries to help him complete his assignments in school, even though they are really his responsibility, because she doesn't want to see him fail. What family factor discussed in your textbook is at work in this situation?

Answer 1

Answer:

Codependency is at work in this situation.

Explanation:

Codependency is a concept used in psychology and social work to understand and explain the dynamic of a family in which one member is a substance abuser or has another kind of addiction. According to this concept, while the family member becomes dependent of a substance, he or she also becomes dependent on the rest of the family and, likewise, the rest of the familly becomes dependent on him or her.

In the case stated in the question, although Pam is not happy with his son's addiction, she is enabling it by not making him accountable for his decisions and preventing him of experiencing the consequences of his actions. Besides depending on alcohol, his son has also become dependent of his mother in order to continue his addiction and she has become dependent on his actions for her wellbeing.