Robert Jackman 

So often we hear of how bad codependent behavior is and how to stop being codependent. And, I’m one of those people who has worked hard healing my own codependent patterns, and I teach others the art of healing from their own codependency.

I have been working with a Mom who has a seven year old daughter who has been mean to her recently. The daughter would say mean things to her Mom like “I hate you”, or , “I wish you were not here”. The Mom has been trying to get her daughter to understand that those words are hurtful and each time the daughter says them, the Mom corrects the daughter, but the behavior continues. Maybe it’s a phase or the daughter testing limits, but the Mom was really frustrated with her daughter’s behavior.

I recently presented to a community support group for people who are in a relationship or have a family member who is a manipulator. The manipulator in this case is someone who may have a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder, a narcissist, or someone who has Bipolar Disorder for example. The diagnosis is not as important as much as how a person feels when they know they are being manipulated.