Codependency Test

A codependency test is a short self-report questionnaire that asks how often patterns of excessive emotional reliance, compulsive caregiving, people-pleasing, difficulty with boundaries and loss of identity describe your close relationships. Codependency is not a DSM-5-TR diagnosis but a relational pattern often linked to trauma and family dysfunction.

What does the codependency test measure?

Codependency describes a pattern of excessive psychological reliance on a partner, family member or other person.

It is often characterized by compulsive caregiving, difficulty setting boundaries, approval-seeking, self-esteem tied to others' wellbeing, and a tendency to lose one's own identity in relationships.

The concept emerged from the addiction treatment field, originally describing partners and family members of people with substance use disorders. It has since been applied to a broad range of relational difficulties, and a 2026 review identified six conceptual perspectives, from addiction-based to developmental and relational ^[3].

Is codependency a diagnosis?

Codependency is not a formal DSM-5-TR or ICD-11 diagnosis.

Some clinicians view it as a learned pattern rooted in childhood, particularly in families affected by substance use, emotional neglect, parental mental illness or other chronic dysfunction. Roles such as caretaker or people-pleaser may have worked as survival strategies but create relationship difficulties in adulthood.

Elements of codependency overlap with anxious attachment (see the attachment style quiz), dependent personality traits and complex PTSD. Across recent studies it was consistently associated with emotional distress, disrupted identity and impaired relational functioning ^[3].

The 10 items reflect patterns described in the clinical literature: excessive emotional reliance, compulsive caregiving, people-pleasing, difficulty with boundaries, and loss of identity in relationships.

How do you give the codependency test?

Rate how often each statement describes your patterns in close relationships. This is an educational reflection questionnaire, not a validated clinical measure. It is completed by the respondent, without clinician guidance, as a prompt for reflection or for discussion with a therapist.

If codependency patterns are affecting your relationships and wellbeing, a therapist specializing in relational trauma or attachment can help.

How do you score and interpret the codependency test?

This reflection questionnaire has no published cutoff scores, so results are not sorted into severity bands. Higher ratings simply indicate that more of the listed patterns feel familiar. Interpret results alongside the broader clinical picture.

Core codependency patterns

The patterns come from the clinical and self-help literature and the Co-Dependents Anonymous (CoDA) fellowship. Individual patterns vary; not all are present in every person with codependency.

Psychometric properties

This 10-item reflection questionnaire has not itself been psychometrically validated. Published codependency measures offer some reference points:

• Spann-Fischer Codependency Scale (SFCS): In 95 undergraduates, the SFCS, the Co-Dependents Anonymous Checklist and a third codependency questionnaire were strongly related, supporting the SFCS's convergent validity ^[1].
• Holyoake Codependency Index (HCI): A 13-item version with three subscales (external focus, self-sacrifice, reactivity) showed internal consistency of .74 to .84 in a family counselling client sample and .73 to .83 in a community sample of 303 women, with a replicated factor structure ^[2].

Limitations

• Not validated and not a diagnosis. Codependency is not a DSM-5-TR or ICD-11 diagnosis, and this questionnaire has no published norms or cutoffs.
• Contested construct. A 2026 integrative review describes co-dependency as conceptually fragmented, with six different conceptual perspectives in the literature ^[3].
• Self-report. Ratings reflect how respondents see their own relationships and can be influenced by mood and context.
• Overlap with other constructs. Features overlap with anxious attachment, dependent personality traits and complex PTSD, which need clinical assessment.

Recovery and support

Recovery focuses on building a stable, autonomous sense of self and learning to meet one's own needs directly. Key skills include:

• Boundaries. Saying no without excessive guilt.
• Self-awareness. Identifying one's own needs and emotions, separate from others'.
• Self-care and communication. Practising both.

Individual therapy often works on these skills and on underlying trauma or attachment wounds. Approaches used include Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy, Schema Therapy for abandonment and subjugation schemas, and DBT for emotion regulation and interpersonal effectiveness. Co-Dependents Anonymous (CoDA), modelled on the 12-step approach, offers peer support.

Tracking related symptoms

Codependency questionnaires have no sensitivity-to-change benchmarks, so symptom measures such as the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 are often tracked alongside them in relationship-focused therapy.