Modeling The Codependency of The Spouses of Drug Users Undergoing Maintenance Treatment Based on The Experience of Childhood Trauma And Insecure Attachment With The Mediation of Mentalization

One of the most destructive effects of addiction is the addiction of the head of the family, which leaves many negative effects on all family members, and most importantly, the spouse of the addicted person. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of modeling the Codependency of the spouses of drug users undergoing maintenance treatment based on the experience of childhood trauma and insecure attachment with the mediation of mentalization. 

The present study was a cross-sectional correlational study. The statistical population of the research included all married women with addicted spouses who referred to addiction treatment clinics Qazvin city in the second half of 2023, out of which 220 people were selected using the available non-random sampling method. And they answered the Codependency Questionnaire, childhood trauma questionnaire, adult attachment styles questionnaire and reflective Functioning Questionnaire. For data analysis, Pearson correlation, structural equation modeling was used in SPSS-26 and AMOS-24 software.

The results showed that the research model has a good fit (RMSEA=0.06; CFI=0.91; IFI=0.92; GFI=0.95 and NFI=0.96). In addition, the results showed the effect of the direct path of childhood trauma (P=0.001), anxious attachment (P=0.001), mentalization (certainty component) (P=0.001) and mentalization (uncertainty component) (P=0.002) were significant on Codependency. Also, mentalization had a mediating role in the relationship between childhood trauma and insecure attachment with Codependency (P=0.001). The results also showed that the research variables explained a total of 59% of the variance of Codependency.

Based on the findings of the research, it can be concluded that despite traumatic experiences and insecure attachment style, if people acquire high psychological capacity and understanding and insight into their own mental processes and self-control over internal processes, instead of focusing too much on the needs and behaviors of others, They focus on themselves. Therefore, it is suggested to pay special attention to treatments based on emotion regulation and mentalization with the aim of reducing codependency.