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November 20, 2025 16 mins

In Christian codependency, we believe we are doing the right thing to stay in toxic relationships, whether with our spouse, partner, friend, or family. We believe we are supposed to sacrifice, give, tolerate, overlook, and forgive. Two become one in marriage. The church is our family. We honor our parents. We respect our elders. These along with the dynamics in toxic relationships, often result in us losing ourselves. If you have trouble setting boundaries and separating yourself from toxic people, it may be because you are enmeshed. Watch this video to find out if you are enmeshed. The answer is important.

Watch this video to find out. #christiancodependency #enmeshment #toxicrelationships

 

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Watch this video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/nHveAQiNy3o

 

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
You're listening to an audio recordingby Change My Relationship, featuring
licensed marriage and family therapistand author Karla Downing.
These audios are designed to provide youwith practical solutions
based on biblical truthsfor all your relationships.
Very important question for you

(00:20):
in, dysfunctional relationship.
Are you enmeshed?
Now, this can be in your relationshipwith your family of origin,
or this could be in your marriage,or this could be
as a parent with your children,or it could be as an adult child

(00:41):
with your parents still,which is your family of origin.
So but it might just be with your parentsand not your whole family.
So it's very importantto understand what that means.
What is an enmeshment mean?
e-n-m-e-s-h-m-e-n-t enmeshment okay.
So in a relationship to people

(01:05):
are in the relationship.
But even if it's a marriagethey're still two separate people.
Okay.
To say I have to
two separate people.
So if you're two people
in a relationship,you still have two separate opinions, two
separate beliefs, two separate needs,

(01:26):
two separate feelings, two separate ideas,
two separate identitiesand the right to make choices.
So even in a marriage,
you are one and your sexual union,you are still individuals
who will give an individual accountto God in the afterlife

(01:48):
for your choices,so your individual choices still matter.
So here are some questions to ask you.
Do you have troublefiguring out what you want and need?
You know betterwhat other people want and need
that's enmeshed, but that means you'renot an independent self.
You're not your own person.

(02:10):
You're more fuzed with other people.
You know what they want and need.
Do you see yourself maybe just like them
and you don't see your own needs separatefrom those enmeshed in?
Do you take better care of other people
than yourself in measurementbecause their needs again matter more?

(02:32):
Not only do you not knowyour own needs and know theirs,
but now you take care of their needsand ignore your own.
How does this work?
You'retaking care of everyone in the family.
Everybody's got their healthneeds, their problems.
But you ignore your own health.
You don't eat well, you don't exercise.
You don't go to the doctor,but you take everybody else to the doctor.

(02:53):
I've seen this happen in real life.
I've seen people saw one woman in my classa while
ago, took care of her elderly momwith health problems, her husband
with health problems, until in her 60s,she ended up in the ER.
And the doctor said, if you don't start
taking care of yourself,you're going to die.
And she didn't even know she was sick

(03:14):
because she was so focused,so enmeshed with her husband and mother.
That's all she did was think abouthow they felt and not how she felt.
Do you
give up your own opinionswhen other people disagree?
So you've got a shaky opinion of yourself,and as soon as somebody disagrees,
you go and agree with them,meaning you lose yourself.

(03:37):
That's a measurement.
You don't maintain your own opinion.
Do you worrythat other people will get upset with you
if you don't do what they want?So you just give in?
Again, in measurement?
Because if someone gets upset,I can't tolerate that.
So I just have to go by whothey want me to be.

(04:00):
Do you feel guilty when you say no?
This is I'm beginning to think about.
Maybe I might have a different opinion,
but I feel really, I'm kind of weak.
I'm still struggling, not being enmeshedwith you, so I say no, but.
Oh, I feel so guilty.
I'm telling myself I might be wrongso my fingers are not lined up completely.

(04:24):
Okay, so I'm really having a hard timestarting to pull away.
That's when you feel guilty for saying no.
Do family members resent itwhen you do things on your own,
or when you do things differentlythan what they want?
Or do you say no to their requests?
Like for instance, your family of originalways expected you to follow

(04:46):
in your father's footsteps.
He is a lawyer.
You got to be a lawyer. He's a doctor.
You got to be a doctor.Your mom's a teacher.
You've got to be a teacher.
Whatever it is.
Your dad was in the military.
You got to be in the military.Your dad played football.
You got to play football. So.And you don't.
And then all of a sudden, whoa,you stepped away.

(05:06):
They don't like you, so they're mad.
And you have a really hard timethinking, oh.
If if I really hold on to my ownand I say, no, I'm going to lose them.
And sometimes you do.
Sometimes they treatyou like the outsider.
Treat you like the personthat betrayed the family when all you did

(05:27):
was step away from the enmeshment and say,I don't want to be
who you want me to be.
And then boom, you're like the bad guy.
But if your family's
resenting it when you don't want to goalong with what they want
you to do and be, then that is a sign
that there's a mess in your family.

(05:50):
Do you feel other people's feelingsand find it hard to separate
from their feelings in measurement,so somebody else's depressed?
Your child is depressed.
Maybe you got a child with depression,got a child,
a spouse with depression, or anger,and when that person is depressed
or angry or upset,you can't maintain your own feelings.

(06:15):
You get pulled in and they feel badand you feel bad.
And so now your day is ruined.
That's a measurement, not separateness.
So if I'm healthy, the other personI can say, oh, you're having a bad day,
you're upset,you're angry, or you're depressed or sad.

(06:36):
I see that I care, but I'm not angry.
I'm not going to get angry.
I'm not going to be depressedbecause you're depressed.
I'm going to be okay because I'm not.
I don't feel the same thing. You feel.
I'm going to take care of myselfand do what I need to do today.
I'll care for youif I can, in a healthy way.
But I don't have to go there with you.

(06:57):
I don't have to be in the same place.
I don't have to feel what you feel.
I don't have to like what you like.
I don't have to feel that I don'thave to be down because you're down.
I don't have to be upsetbecause you're upset.
So I don't have to get drawninto the dynamics.
I don't have to try to fix a relationshipand triangulate into it,

(07:18):
and make mom and sister get along better
by standing in the middleand trying to make everything okay.
I don't have to do that.
I don't have to get drawninto that in measurement.
Do you resent
others doing things without you?
If you are uncomfortable with your spouse

(07:41):
or your child,
or your childand the husband or your child
and his wife or your family,or your sister or your friend,
if you get upsetwhen any one of those people make a choice
to do something without you,that shows that you're enmeshed with them,

(08:04):
that you're thinkingyou have to be like me.
You have to do everything with me.
If you get upset when your spousemakes choices different from you,
you're showing that you want that personto be the same as you.
I want you to like the beachbecause I like the beach and I'm not okay.
If you don't like the beach,
you got to go to the beach with meor you have to go to church with me.

(08:27):
You have to do everything I door I won't be okay,
and then I have to give it upif you don't do it.
So I have to make you do itand like it, enmeshment.
Okay, now,you might enjoy having that person
with you,as we often do when we're married,
but you should not have toin order to be okay.

(08:49):
That is enmeshment.
Do you become overly
involved in people's problems,feeling that you should solve them?
Whether it's your friends, your siblings,your mothers.
I gave that example.
People in your workplace,
your children,
the children with your spouse.
Do you feel like you have to solveeverything that's enmeshment?

(09:10):
That's you feeling like you're responsiblefor other people's choices
and other people's relationships?
That's enmeshment.
So obviously saying yes to
any of those questionsis an example of you being enmeshed.
There was a time when I would have saidyes to every single one of those,

(09:30):
and I don't say yes to those anymore.
I used to be enmeshed horribly.
I was so enmeshed.
I'm going to divulge something right here,and you're going to think, oh my gosh,
when I first got married, I
was 20 years oldand my husband was 27 years old.
Ladies, can you believe that?

(09:53):
I had a group of very close friendswho were my friends from college,
and they all lived aroundme, and I told them,
this is no joke, that I did not need
them as friends anymorebecause I had gotten married.
Was I ever enmeshed?
I thought my husband and Iwould do everything together.

(10:18):
That's all I needed.
I wanted him to be with me all the time.
I wanted him to spend his every moment,which he did when we were dating,
except when he went to work.But he didn't.
When we got after we got married,then he wanted to do other things
and I could not handle it because I wasso enmeshed and so codependent.

(10:39):
I was so threatened by that,that I felt abandoned and flipped out.
And I, I learned it
took a while, that I did need my friends,and that I did
need other women and other peopleand other things in my life.
But I went along with all of thatbecause that's how I was.

(11:01):
I was raised in a dysfunctional home,and I was very dependent
and very enmeshed,and I was happy to be married.
And I just was like, oh, that's I got it.
That's it.
They left that little hole in my heartfrom that dysfunctional family
where we didn't have thatthat wonderful, loving family.
And I thought, okay, I've got it nowand I'll just throw,

(11:24):
get rid of everything else.
Luckily,I was smart enough to stay in college.
My husband supported education, too,and finished my degrees
so that I did get my education,
but I was very enmeshed.
But you can grow out of itbecause I am not enmeshed now
I am able to say no to all of thoseand you can too.

(11:45):
So, but becoming your own personmeans you're going to have
to tolerate disapproval from other people,and that might be your spouse,
and they will give you pressure,put pressure on you,
and push back to get you to stay,because enmeshed families
want to keep you enmeshed,and they will push back on you
to keep you goingalong with their enmeshment.

(12:09):
And so you've got to be strong,and you got to be willing
to face the backlashand to stand up to it.
But change starts with an awareness.
So recognizing that you're enmeshedand recognizing
what you need to do to get out ofbeing enmeshed is step one. Now,
if you recognized you're enmeshed,

(12:31):
are you willing to begin to step away
and begin to focus on developing who
you are as a person
because God wants you to?
Here's a couple of verses.
Proverbs 14:10.
These talk about, us being individuals.

(12:52):
Each heart knows its own bitterness,and no one else can share its joy.
No matter how close we are to someone,no one else
really,really knows what it feels like to be us.
To be you.
Only you.
Romans 14:12.
So then each of uswill give an account of ourselves

(13:13):
to God, not our mom and dad.
Together, not our husband and wifetogether, not the parent and child each,
no matter how closely intertwinedeach, will give an account to God.
And Psalm 139.
Oh my gosh. So I'm going to read 1-18.
Listen to how God created each of us.

(13:35):
You have searched me, Lord,and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise,
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going outand my lying down.
You are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue.
You, Lord, know it completely.

(13:58):
You hand me in from behind and before,and you lay your hand upon me.
So such knowledge is two wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to heaven, you are there.
If I make my bed in the depths,you are there.

(14:18):
If I rise on the wings of dawn.
If I settle on the far side of the sea.
Even there your hand will guide me.
Your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say.
Surely the darknesswill hide me in the light.
Become night around me.
Even the darkness will be dark to you.
The night will shine like the day.
For darkness is as light to you.

(14:39):
For you God created my inmost being.
You knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfullyand wonderfully made.
Your works are wonderful.
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from youwhen I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven togetherin the depths of the earth.

(15:01):
Your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your bookbefore one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts,
O God, how vast is the sum of them?
Were I to count them,they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I am awake, I am still with you.

(15:22):
God's thoughts are toward the individual,not towards two people together,
not separated.
We are separate beings.
God created usas individual, sees us as individuals.
We will all die as individuals
and then give an accountto God as individuals.

(15:46):
So I hope that kind of cleared up whatenmeshment is and give you some insight.
So my classes are excellent
for helping you get out of codependency,
get out of enmeshmentand helping you to develop a healthy self.
So I hope I will see you there.

(16:06):
God bless you.
Thank you for listeningto Change My Relationship.
We hope you will subscribe to thesepodcasts and share them with your friends.
Karla would love to hear from you.
She welcomes ideas for a future podcast,as well as your feedback
on how the podcasts have helped your lifeand relationships.
You can email her at.
karla@changemyrelationship.com

(16:30):
For more informationon Change My Relationship and Karla
Downing's ministry, including her books,studies, devotionals, podcasts
and YouTube videosvisit changemyrelationship.com.
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