Recently, the post-Soviet space has seen an increase in various types of addictions. The most common problem in our country is alcohol addiction. Addictions affect all levels of human existence and destroy human health and life. What is addiction? The literal translation of the word addiction is loss of freedom, slavery. Experts believe that addiction is the presence of a desire to escape from reality by artificially changing one’s mental state, through the abuse of various substances (alcohol, drugs, smoking) or constant fixation of attention on certain types of activities aimed at developing and maintaining intense emotions. Most often, such people do not like the reality that surrounds them and they choose this particular way of escaping it. They don't know any other way to change this reality. Why illness? Because any chemical addiction begins with a psychological dependence on a substance, and ends with a physical one, i.e. the body already “requires” a certain dose. A person is not able to cope with this addiction on his own; he needs the help of specialists. There are several signs by which we can conclude that this is already an addiction: constant thoughts about the object of addiction (alcohol, drugs, food, etc.); increasing tolerance to the substance (increasing the dose for pleasure); rapid absorption (alcohol, food); using the substance alone; using a substance as a universal medicine (problems to relax, sleep, recover from a cold, etc.); buying a substance in reserve (creating a kind of “stash”); unplanned use (more than you wanted or when you didn’t plan at all); loss of memory of some moments. Why is the disease family? Firstly, it can occur in several members of the same family and be passed on from generation to generation (for example, it can affect both father and son, several brothers and sisters, or can be traced among more distant relatives). Of course, this is not inevitable, therefore in each such family, along with the sick, there are also healthy people in this regard (Moskalenko V.D., Shevtsov A.V., 2000). It is believed that children from dependent families become dependent on any substance or activity much faster than children from a relatively healthy family. Secondly, even if there is only one addict in the family, then all its other members suffer psychologically. It is simply impossible to live next to an alcoholic or drug addict and not be emotionally involved in his illness. Living together with someone suffering from alcoholism leads to serious characterological changes in partners and children, a complex of which is designated by experts as “codependency.” “A codependent person is someone who is completely absorbed in managing the behavior of another person and does not care at all about satisfying his own vital needs." Codependency in a certain sense is a denial of oneself. In such families, the whole world revolves around the addict, almost all family members try to somehow control his use, but at the same time forget about themselves. Who is codependent? Codependents are: 1. persons who are married or in a loving relationship with a person with addiction;2. parents, adult brothers and sisters of the patient; 3. persons who have one or both parents with addiction;4. persons who grew up in a family where the child did not receive emotional warmth and approval. Relatives of patients suffer no less, and sometimes even more (since they do not drink and endure their pain without alcohol anesthesia) than the patients themselves. But, nevertheless, with their behavior they sometimes provoke breakdowns in the addict and contribute to the further growth of addiction. They do not give the addicted person the opportunity to face the consequences of his use, they take on his share of responsibility, and solve his problems for him. Such behaviorIn this case, it only brings harm. Alcoholism and codependency are similar to each other, and this similarity is manifested in the fact that in both cases a person loses energy, health, the ability to think soberly and experience adequately. Each side directs its efforts in an unproductive direction: the drinking husband is preoccupied with obsessive thoughts about past and future drinking, and the codependent wife is also obsessively thinking about how to control his behavior. It is important to be able to recognize the state of codependency. Moskalenko V.D. offers the following criteria for recognizing this condition: 1. The individual has been or is still exposed to a high-stress family situation for a long period of time in the past (dependence of family members on alcohol, drugs).2. The individual reports the presence or has observed at least 5 of the following 8 signs: * fear - constant preoccupation with the problems of others, persistent anxiety, unpleasant premonitions; the desire to avoid risk in relationships, distrust of people, controlling behavior, hyper-responsibility, attempts to manipulate the behavior of others, especially “drinking” behavior; * shame/guilt - an enduring feeling of shame both for one’s own behavior and for the behavior of others; isolation to hide the family's shame; self-hatred; a facade of superiority and defiant rudeness to cover up low self-esteem; * protracted despair - despair and hopelessness in relation to changing the situation, a pessimistic view of the world, low self-esteem and a feeling of defeat in life, which does not correspond to real achievements; * anger - a constant feeling of anger at the patient, for the family and for oneself; fear of losing control in anger; anger spreading to everything in the world; passive-aggressive behavior, especially towards a patient with alcoholism; * denial - persistent denial of the source of family troubles, persistent minimization of the severity of problems, justification, protection of the drinker from negative consequences; * rigidity - cognitive rigidity; behavioral rigidity; including role inflexibility; rigidity of moral and spiritual principles; emotional rigidity – dominance of a single affect (guilt, self-pity, anger); * violation of identification of one’s own needs – loss of the ability to express one’s needs and take care of their satisfaction; difficulties in determining the boundaries of one’s spiritual self; personal dependence - the need to confirm self-worth, fear of abandonment, worry about what others will think; * conceptual displacement - doubts about what is normal and can be real; tendency to misrecognize and label feelings; gullibility, trustfulness; indecisiveness, ambivalence. Since codependency, like alcoholism, has a destructive effect on the individual and is a risk factor for relapse of chemical dependence in the patient, it must be combated. Codependents need to separate their Self from the Self of the dependent person, to switch attention from another person to themselves, but without the help of a specialist this is almost impossible. Why? Yes, because codependents have a unclear idea of ​​themselves, their worth, who they are, how others should treat them, extremely low self-esteem, they are characterized by a constant need for approval, praise and honor, dependence on external assessments, they irresponsible for their own well-being, do not know their needs. Growing up and separating from the parental family, adult children of alcoholics continue to demonstrate codependent behavior; they still focus their attention on another person, satisfy the needs of other people, but do not take care of themselves at all. How can a psychologist/psychotherapist help a codependent person? A psychologist/psychotherapist can help a codependent find his Self, help him understand what is happening to him, what he feels and what he wants. Literature:1. Ananyeva, G.A. Family: chemical dependency and codependency. Working with codependency / G.A. Ananyeva. – M.: Independent company “Class”,.