Books
Although codependency – or loss of self in others – is rooted in addictions work, it is a complex and often overlooked dynamic that underlies many of the issues that bring clients to therapy, including anxiety, depression, trauma, substance use, eating disorders, and more. In The Clinician’s Codependency Treatment Workbook, you’ll learn how to identify telltale symptoms of this relational dynamic and help clients restore their connection to who they truly are.
Disentangle: When You’ve Lost Your Self in Someone Else (2nd Ed) (Central Recovery Press, 2020) is about the process of finding your self when you are lost in your relationship with someone else. It is about creating emotional and cognitive balance so you are better able to see the realities of your situation and make healthier decisions about it. It is not necessarily about leaving/divorcing/ending a relationship but rather becoming grounded, centered, and connected within so you can then decide what to do about the relationship in which you are entangled.
My Life as a Border Collie: Freedom from Codependency (Central Recovery Press, 2012) takes a serious and fun look at twelve behaviors associated with codependency. The book began by Johnston noticing behaviors in Daisy, her border collie mix, that resemble the behaviors associated with codependency which she had been working to moderate through her recovery. “Daily I am struck by our tendencies to attend to others, to herd, to over-react.”