Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Reviews of Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself

Codependent No More:  How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself
Codependent No More How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself
Author: Melody Beattie
ISBN-13: 9780894864025
ISBN-10: 0894864025
Publication Date: 1986
Pages: 264
Rating:
  • Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
 110

3.9 stars, based on 110 ratings
Publisher: Hazelden
Book Type: Paperback
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

29 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

Lelopit avatar reviewed Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself on + 273 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 5
Is someone else's problem your problem? A simple straight forward,readable map of the perplexing world of codependency.
Kibi avatar reviewed Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself on + 582 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
A codependent person let's another's behavior affect them..., March 8, 2001
Reviewer: Heather E. McAndrews "hes911" (PA, United States)
This book is good for people who find themselves depressed and needing some insight on why they feel the way they do. After reading this book the other book by Melody Beattie "Beyond Codependency" will help you fix the codependent problem. These books will help anyone who is dealing with an alcoholic relationship or any other dependent relationship. If you find yourself care-taking all the time, i.e.: thinking or feeling responsible for other people, feel it is your responsibility to help other people solve their problems, feel needy people are always attracted to you, and feeling unappreciated or used; or you have weak boundaries with the people in your life; you have dependency issues; poor communication; and low self-worth- you are codependent. I didn't think I was, but this book laid my life out perfectly. If you are feeling crazy for the way you are feeling read this book and you will understand why you are feeling the way you are. It is normal -- it is just that you are a codependent person and you need to fix that.
reviewed Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself on + 145 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
Explains what co-dependency so you can identify the issue.... explains the basics of self-care. A great read for overcoming co-dependency or for understanding those friends, family, co-workers who are caught up in it.
reviewed Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself on + 36 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
Excellant read with great insight. Positive ways to change out behavior to better our lives.
reviewed Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself on + 10 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
Very good book. Very eye-opening. This is the best explanation of codependent I've ever read.
reviewed Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself on + 46 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
"Codependent" is more than just a word joked about in sit-coms. It is for real. But it is so difficult for the person who is codependent to realize it. They don't intend to control others and everything around them - that is just their comfort zone and how they deal with life. But they need to learn how to love themselves and to care for themselves. The rest of the world will appreciate it and they will live longer and love more fully. A good read.
Vee avatar reviewed Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself on + 8 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
this whole topic is so important for so many of us women today! especially for the baby boomer generation who were trapped in two worlds, the old traditional one of our stay at home mothers and the new one where women do it all!
reviewed Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself on + 9 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
A classic! This is the first book you should have if you want to work on codependency issues.
reviewed Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself on + 469 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Bky its nature, alcoholism and other compulsive disorders create victims out of everyone close to the afflicted person. Whether the person you love is an alcoholic, a gambler, a foodaholic, a workaholic, a sexaholic, a criminal, a rebellious teenager, or a neurotic parent, this book is for you--the codependent.
imnellen avatar reviewed Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself on + 246 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Living your own life and worrying less about others. The only thing you can truly control is YOU!
reviewed Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself on + 10 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
This books deals with taking care of yourself while living with someone with an addiction.
AnnZ avatar reviewed Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself on + 2 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
This book truly opened my eyes to what was going on in a bad relationship.
reviewed Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself on + 5 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This is where to start if you are living with an alcoholic, drug addict, someone with mental illness or other irresponsible person. Or if you get lost in other people, if other people's problems take over your life, if you find yourself feeling unappreciated for all you do, if you are always angry or unable to feel angry, if you worry incessantly about someone else's actions, if you are always reacting to life's problems and you never seem to have time to build a life instead, you may identify with this book. Every chapter honors your right and ability to make your own decisions. This book is not about how to leave someone or how to make someone stop drinking, it's about how people like us can take care of ourselves and stop being ruled by someone else's needs. It is the most validating book I've ever read. It was amazing to see my own inner and outer struggles in print, written by someone I don't even know. Immediately, I felt a decrease in shame and loneliness, just to know that what I was experiencing was common and normal for someone in my position. I will probably never swap it because I could read it again and again.
reviewed Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself on + 3 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
After a 9 year relationship with an alcoholic, I KNEW I was going crazy. This book let me know that a) I am not the only person who has ever felt like this, b) I am not stupid, and c) what my real problems were. It also provided coping strategies for going through the detachment and divorce. This book saved my life.
reviewed Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself on + 2 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Classic book on the role spouses or significant others often play in a relationship with a person with some type of dependency (alcohol, substance abuse, gambling, etc.). The attempt to control the dependent person makes you crazy - and keeps the dependent person dependent. The book helps you become aware of, and step back from, that cycle.

It may be hard for those in the co-dependent role to see themselves clearly and realize they are a part of the problem. This book is really eye-opening. Melody Beattie speaks credibly from her own marital experience - not as a psychologist - and provides a guide for breaking the cycle.
reviewed Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself on
This is a great book which can provide strategies for coping with many issues.
reviewed Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself on + 20 more book reviews
great for help. one of the best self helpers
reviewed Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself on
This book is an excellent one when trying to make real positive changes in your life. It has helped me a great deal. Very easy to read as well.
reviewed Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself on + 7 more book reviews
Awesome book, wish I'd read it years ago! Helped me understand some of my own self-defeating patterns.
reviewed Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself on + 23 more book reviews
helped me over some very unsettled times in my life
reviewed Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself on + 181 more book reviews
A 'take control of your life' book
reviewed Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself on + 4 more book reviews
This is a book to read over and over until the message sinks in.
reviewed Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself on + 3 more book reviews
The information in this book changed my life. I also keep it on hand to reference as needed. I finally found a book that described me, and taught me how to be a healthy person emotionally.
reviewed Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself on
Book is an excellent book for codependents. It is a great self help book. I have enjoyed it and have kept into the reading material.
reviewed Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself on + 14 more book reviews
A fantastic book for codependents like me. This book opened my eyes and my situation, my behavior and years of misery. I realized that the one thing I could change and control was just myself. I had spent all my life trying to control and change other only to fail miserably. The book is based on alcoholism but applies to every kind of addiction. It is strongly inspired by the Al Anon principles.
timetoread avatar reviewed Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself on + 17 more book reviews
Very insightful and helpful in identifying and understanding codependency
reviewed Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself on + 8 more book reviews
Probably no longer revelant but maybe an interesting nostalgia piece on how we use to cope in the 80's with relationship problems.
reviewed Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself on + 3 more book reviews
It is an older copy by has the same message. This book has changed my life.
reviewed Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself on
has some highlighting and underlining, but otherwise in good condition