A 16-year-old girl is caught shoplifting; the mother says, 'It's my fault. I don't earn enough money to get the things she wants.' Which term best describes the mother's pattern?

A 16-year-old girl is caught shoplifting; the mother says, 'It's my fault. I don't earn enough money to get the things she wants.' Which term best describes the mother's pattern?

• A. Denial
• B. Comorbidity
• C. Codependency
• D. Avoidance

Answer: (C)

Codependency is a pattern where a caregiver becomes overly involved in someone else’s problems and takes responsibility for them, often neglecting boundaries and their own needs in an effort to control or rescue the other person. In this case, the mother absorbs the daughter’s shoplifting as her own fault and attributes it to not earning enough money, effectively taking on blame and attempting to fix the situation rather than addressing the underlying behavior or setting limits. This enables the daughter’s continued problematic behavior and keeps the family dynamics stuck in a dysfunctional cycle. Denial would involve denying the problem, avoidance would be dodging it, and comorbidity refers to co-occurring disorders—none of which fit this pattern as well as codependency.

Codependency is a pattern where a caregiver becomes overly involved in someone else’s problems and takes responsibility for them, often neglecting boundaries and their own needs in an effort to control or rescue the other person. In this case, the mother absorbs the daughter’s shoplifting as her own fault and attributes it to not earning enough money, effectively taking on blame and attempting to fix the situation rather than addressing the underlying behavior or setting limits. This enables the daughter’s continued problematic behavior and keeps the family dynamics stuck in a dysfunctional cycle. Denial would involve denying the problem, avoidance would be dodging it, and comorbidity refers to co-occurring disorders—none of which fit this pattern as well as codependency.