This is http://www.essayz.com/a8811181.htm         
Previous-Essay      <== This-Essay ==>     Following-Essay
Click HERE on this line to find essays via Your-Key-Words.
{Most frequent wordstarts of each essay will be put here.}
==========================================================
         %SIGNS OF ADDICTION CODEPENDENCE INTEGRITY 881118

     How  can  we tell when we are  engaged  in  addictive
and/or codependent behavior?  Are there "good" addictions?
If so, how can you distinguish them from "bad" addictions?

     The  following questions are suggestive of the  kinds
of  considerations which are central to the resolution  of
the above:

     Can we engage in open and honest discussion about the
behavior which is in question, about its consequences, how
it affects us and others?

     Does  the  behavior  threaten the  integrity  of  any
person or community?

     Is  the  behavior compulsive?   Can the  behavior  be
suspend    willfully  when  careful consideration  of  its
consequences indicate that suspension is in order?

     Is  the behavior characterized by confusion,   crisis
following   crisis,   ignorance,   blurred   distinctions,
multiple conflicts, confrontations,  repetitious cycles of
decay, etc?

     Do  participants  in  the behavior  enjoy  high  self
esteem  and  clarity of individual identities?    Do  they
approach each other with mutual respect for each other  as
distinct  individuals  with  individual  differences   and
rights?

     Do  participants in the behavior openly and  honestly
see  themselves  and their behavior within a much  broader
context, as part of an integrated whole over which they do
not have, and do not want to have control.

     Are  the  participants trying to  perfect  themselves
according to some standard of conformity?

     Are  there efforts to gain control according to  some
standard  of  how  things  should be  or  should  develop?
Do  participants    judge   each   other   according    to
personal acceptability and rejectability?

     Is   excommunication,   alienation  and  estrangement
common?

     Do participants really listen to each other  actively
and confirm what they think they have heard?

                                                                                                                               
                         (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in      
                    (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)  
                                                                                                                               
==========================================================