Women Who Love Too Much: When You Keep Wishing and Hoping He'll Change

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of substance use, addiction, gender discrimination, and antigay bias.

Robin Norwood’s professional background as a licensed marriage, family, and child counselor provides substantial credibility for her analysis of relationship dysfunction. Her specialized experience working in addiction treatment centers, particularly with patients’ partners, directly informs the book’s central thesis that relationship patterns can mirror substance addictions. Norwood’s observation that codependent partners—primarily women—consistently come from troubled families and unconsciously recreate childhood dynamics through their adult relationships forms the empirical foundation for her theoretical framework. Her clinical experience with hundreds of clients struggling with similar patterns lends authenticity to the case studies and validates her systematic approach to recovery, which draws heavily from established 12-step programs and Al-Anon principles.

However, Norwood’s perspective reflects significant limitations rooted in her era and professional context. Written in 1985, her analysis operates within strictly heteronormative assumptions, focusing exclusively on women partnered with men. Her theoretical framework partially relies on Freudian concepts like the Oedipus complex, which contemporary psychology views with skepticism. Additionally, Norwood’s approach emphasizes individual psychological change while largely overlooking systemic factors such as economic inequality, gender-based violence, or cultural pressures that contribute to relationship dysfunction.