me and involve considerable emotional growth and development.
The issue of love addiction in relationships has of late received significant professional and media attention due to several factors. First, society is now more open to the discussion of relationship problems. This is in part due to a changed perception of relationships, the ever-increasing divorce and separation rates that have reached unprecedented national proportions, and generally increased empowerment for women in society. Second, women (and some men) are also now more open and, therefore, able to admit that they may be in addictive relationships. This may have been influenced by the above-noted factors, as well as a resurgence of the importance of the family unit, and a general acceptance in society of the fact that the behavior of one family member influences that of another. Third, there is a marked increase in research being conducted on this topic which has produced increasingly available therapeutic intervention from a wide variety of disciplines offering counseling.
"Addictive Relationships" Delimited
While the phrase "addictive relationships" has been defined by numerous researchers from several disciplines and practitioners in the helping professions, there is a wide range of elements which fail to have consensus. For example, Peele (1975) notes, "Addiction is an unstable state of being, marked by a compulsion to deny all that you are and have been in favor of some new and ecstatic experience. While it is true that intensity of attraction is a beautiful thing, to mislabel it love is both foolish and dangerous" (p. i). Conversely, Smalley (Schaef, 1986) notes that co-dependency (one type of addictive relationship) is, "a pattern of learned behaviors, feelings, and beliefs that make life painful" (p. 14). There are several definitions, however, which provide consensus on the integral elements of "addictive relationships."
The foremost as...