To get to the point of recovery, we must survive. Survivors are by necessity...

To get to the point of recovery, we must survive. Survivors are by necessity co-dependent. We use many coping skills and "ego defenses" to do this. Children of alcoholics and from other troubled or dysfunctional families survive by dodging, hiding, negotiating, taking care of others, pretending, denying and learning and adapting to stay alive using any method that works. They learn other, often unhealthy, ego defense mechanisms, as described by Anna Freud {1936} and summarized by Vaillant {1977}. These include: intellectualization, repression, disassociation, displacement and reaction formation {all of which if over-used can be considered to be neurotic} and projection, passive-aggressive behavior, acting out, hypochondriasis, grandiosity and denial {all of which if over-used can be considered immature and at times psychotic}.

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