THE CODEPENDENCY CONSPIRACY: How to Break the Recovery Habit and Take Charge of Your Life

by Stan J. & Aimee E. Liu Katz ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 20, 1991

A no-holds-barred attack on self-help groups by a psychologist who calls them not only unhelpful but potentially dangerous. Newsweek magazine published a story some months ago on the proliferation of self-help groups and hinted that perhaps the fad had gone too far. In response angry letters from proponents of self-help programs rained on the magazine. Katz is probably also going to be deluged because he goes much further, challenging even Alcoholics Anonymous' sacred 12 Steps. The 12-Step programs teach conformity and dependence, not personal responsibility and morality, he states flatly, also arguing that the basic premise of most self-help groups--that addictions ranging from alcoholism to ""women who love too much"" are diseases--creates ""victims"" who cling to the groups. The theories of codependence--that family members and even friends are bound to the addict and reinforce the addiction--have no basis in scientific fact, Katz asserts, and ridicules even such a popular leader of the codependence movement as PBS TV teacher John Bradshaw. Katz does shoot himself in the foot by presenting his own eight-point plan with lists and worksheets as guides to recovery and change. Nothing wrong with the eight points, which demand personal accountability and selfreliance rather than group-think, but it's hard not to equate it with 12 Steps. Overall, a powerful and eloquent indictment of the self-help movement with alternatives to mull over.

Pub Date: March 20, 1991

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Warner

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1991

Categories: NONFICTION