Advice on Relationships

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Author:
Margaret Paul, Ph.D.

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Title: Codependent Relationships: Takers and Caretakers
Author: Margaret Paul, Ph.D.
E-mail: mailto:margaret@innerbonding.com
Copyright: © 2005 by Margaret Paul
URL: http://www.innerbonding.com
Word Count: 704
Category: Relationships

Codependent Relationships: Takers and Caretakers
By Margaret Paul, Ph.D.

Takers and caretakers – they often seem to find each other! As a counselor who has worked with relationships for 37 years, I can tell you that this is the most frequent relationship dynamic that I encounter.

Takers are people who tend to be narcissistic – that is, they are self-centered with an excessive need for attention and admiration. The taker attempts to control getting love, attention, approval or sex from others with anger, blame, violence, criticism, irritation, righteousness, neediness, invasive touch, invasive energy, incessant talking and/or emotional drama. The taker uses many forms of both overt and covert control to get the attention he or she wants.

Takers not only want a lot of control, but are often afraid of being controlled and become overtly or covertly resistant to doing what someone else wants them to do. The taker might resist with denial, defending, procrastination, rebellion, irresponsibility, indifference, withdrawal, deadness, numbness, rigidity, and/or incompetence.

In a relationship, takers operate from the belief that “You are responsible for my feelings of pain and joy. It is your job to make sure that I am okay.”

Caretakers, on the other hand, operate from the belief that “I am responsible for your feelings. When I do it right, you will be happy and then I will receive the approval I need.” Caretakers sacrifice their own needs and wants to take care of the needs and wants of others, even when others are capable of doing it themselves. Caretakers give to others from fear rather than love - they give to get.

Neither takers nor caretakers take responsibility for their own feelings and wellbeing. Takers generally attempt to have control over others’ giving them the attention and admiration they want in overt ways, while caretakers attempt to have control over getting approval in more covert ways, such as compliance, doing to much for others, and/or withholding their wants and opinions.

Because neither takers nor caretakers are taking care of themselves, they will each end up feeling angry, resentful, trapped, unappreciated, unseen, unloved, misunderstood, and/or unacknowledged.

I tell my clients that whenever they feel this way in a relationship, it is because they are expecting the other person to give them what they are not giving to themselves. When we are not seeing, valuing, acknowledging, or understanding ourselves, and when we are not attending to our own wants and needs, we will always feel upset when others treat us just like we are treating ourselves.

Codependent relationships – relationships of two takers, two caretakers, or a taker and a caretaker – will always run into problems. Many people leave these relationships, only to discover the same problems in their next relationships. Takers and caretakers can switch places in different relationships and over different issues, but the problems remain the same – anger, resentment, distance, lack of sexuality, boredom, feeling unloved and unloving.

There really is a way to heal this.

Relationships heal when individuals heal. When each partner does their inner work – for example practicing the Inner Bonding process that we teach (see www.innerbonding.com for a free course) – their relationship system heals. When each person learns to take full personal responsibility for his or her own feelings of pain and joy, they stop pulling on each other and blaming each other. When each person learns to fill themselves with love and share that love with each other, instead of always trying to get love, the relationship heals.

Learning how to take100% responsibility for your own feelings is one of the essential ingredients in creating a healthy relationship. This means learning to be conscious of what you are feeling and being open to learning about what you are doing to create your own feelings, instead of being a victim and believing that others are causing your feelings. Your feelings come from how you treat yourself and others, from what you tell yourself and what you believe about yourself and others, rather than from others behavior. Blaming others for your feelings will always lead to major relationship problems.

Why not start today by taking your eyes off your partner and putting them squarely on yourself? In reality, you are the only one you actually have control over. You are the only one you can change.

About the Author
Margaret Paul, Ph.D. is the best-selling author and co-author of eight books, including "Do I Have To Give Up Me To Be Loved By You?" She is the co-creator of the powerful Inner Bonding healing process. Visit her web site for a FREE Inner Bonding course: http://www.innerbonding.com or email her at margaret@innerbonding.com.

A Quick Note From The Publisher... If you like the article above, you may be interested in the following article which is also related to Improve Relationships... How To Determine If You Have A Good Relationship Stop Your Divorce and Save Your Marriage How do you know if you are in a good relationship? Most of us know when we do a good job at work but most can’t tell whether they are in a good relationship or not. Can you? If you can’t you can learn to tell if you are in a good relationship. Better yet, you don’t have to wait and see over a long period of time if you and your partner will make each other happy or miserable down the road. No matter what stage of the relationship you are in, you can take its pulse right now and be able to tell if it’s thriving, sick and needs help, or if it’s beyond help and needs to end. First, understand that your feelings are not always a good barometer of whether you are in a good relationship or not. Realize that a good relationship is not always all about love. Isn’t love important in a good relationship? Well, it is and it isn’t. People get into relationships to feel good or because they are in love, or so they think. But in reality, every person gets into a relationship to meet a complex set of deeper personal needs such as understanding, companionship, approval and to give and receive love. Many people are in love with each other and yet have a bad relationship. This is very common. People stay in bad relationships and marriages because they are lovesick over their partner yet unable to let go. At the same time people in good relationships sometimes feel bad and think it’s the relationship making them feel bad. For example, who among us has not been with someone who seems deeply in love with us, and yet runs? It may be a good relationship the person is running from, but one that made him or her feel the fear of intimacy. This is why your feelings are not always a good judge of whether you are in a good relationship or not....