There’s an old joke in psychology that when a codependent is dying, they see everyone else’s lives flashing before their eyes – not their own!

It’s a sarcastic jibe that nevertheless reveals one of the key issues at play in the psycho-emotional condition labelled as codependency. More than being a conjoined condition of relational meekness, codependency often manifests in an imbalanced focus on – and compulsion to manage – other peoples’ feelings, predicaments, preferences, and well-being.