Dangerous liaisons: On the systemic self‐production of codependent identities

Abstract

This essay uses Anthony Wilden ‘s semiotically‐based communication theory and Kenneth Gergen's concept of social saturation to explain the resilience of codependency discourse. Its resilience is attributed, in part, to an “autopoietic”; (self‐producing) logic, internal to codependency discourse itself, which produces the idea of “codependent identities”; by radically separating “self”; from “other”;. In turn, the exclusivity that this separation creates is orchestrated by the manner in which the concept “boundary”; is defined throughout the discourse. It is argued that the exponential increase in the codependency phenomenon rests on the ability of its discourse to ironically confer a clear sense of identity. This clarity simultaneously codes the experience of interpersonal ambiguity associated with the transition from modernist to postmodern consciousness as pathological and thus in need of repair and control.