Psychological and genetic parameters associated with the codependency: analytical review

Abstract

Relevance. The number of people suffering from various kinds of addictions (alcohol, drugs, gambling and others) is growing every year. This is also associated with an increase in domestic violence and a deterioration in the quality of life. An important place in partnership, family relations has a family member (partner) living with an addict. Co-dependency as a personal characteristic of other family members in these conditions becomes important for rehabilitation and support, as well as therapy for antisocial behavior of addicts.Intention. The study was aimed to analyze the results of empirical and theoretical studies in psychology and related sciences on the phenomenon of codependency and identify genes that are most likely to be associated with codependency, attachment, behavior in relationships and the formation of adaptive and maladaptive codependent behavior strategies.Methodology. A theoretical analysis of the scientific literature on the problem has been carried out using the PubMed database, the Google Academy search platforms, and using the resources of the Scientific Electronic Library (eLIBRARY.ru).Results and Discussion. It is shown that with a complex structure, the codependency has a large number of connections with personality traits, which in turn have biological predictors and are associated with various genes. The results of psychogenetic studies on the role of genes in the formation of emotional and personal characteristics, dependent behavior, emotional attachment and features of human social behavior are described. These are mostly genes associated with the work of neurotransmitter systems and neuropeptide genes.Conclusion. In order to identify the biological determination of codependency, the study of polymorphisms of the DRD2, DAT, and OXTP genes will be the most promising. Also of interest are the DRD4, COMT, 5-HTTLPR, BDNF, MAOA, 5HT2A, 5HT1A, and PKNOX2 genes.