Counterdependency Scale Test
How the Scales are Structured
Who Usually Takes This Test?
See How You Compare
Below is a preview of how scores are typically distributed across each scale.
Example Questions From the Test
- Never
- Sometimes
- Often
- Almost always
- Never
- Sometimes
- Often
- Almost always
- Never
- Sometimes
- Often
- Almost always
Counterdependency Scale Test - Description and methodology of the test
For readers who notice a strong preference for handling everything alone, difficulty identifying needs, or unease with emotional closeness, the Counterdependency Scale Test offers a structured way to examine these patterns. It focuses on situations where independence, intimacy, emotion, and support pull in different directions. This counterdependency questionnaire helps organize reflection on habits that may be persistent yet open to change.
What This Assessment Explores
The questions examine counterdependency as a changeable pattern of habits associated with avoiding closeness, emphasizing self-reliance, and reflecting unresolved developmental processes and unmet needs; it is not a disorder. They cover reluctance to ask for help, preference for solitary responsibility, fear that intimacy will bring control or burdens, and difficulty maintaining close relationships. Other items address unclear needs, perfectionism, tension, defensiveness, and downplayed problems.
Taken together, this counterdependency pattern indicates how strongly these tendencies appear in the situations represented. Current stress and personal context can shape responses, so the profile does not explain every relationship difficulty.
The main themes include:
- Self-reliance describes resistance to depending on others or accepting support.
- Closeness and autonomy show whether intimacy feels linked with control, burden, or lost independence.
- Emotional and defensive patterns reflect difficulty identifying feelings, admitting vulnerability, or acknowledging problems.
Methodology and Evidence Base
Each item uses a four-point self-report format: Never, Sometimes, Often, or Almost always. The respondent selects the option that best matches their usual experience. The questionnaire presents one Counterdependent Habits scale, while its item-level weighting or response-combination rule is not specified.
That scale runs from 30-120, with results shown as Low 30-55, Moderate 56-78, or High 79-120. A Low score indicates minimal impact of counterdependent habits on overall functioning.
The method is conceptually consistent with Counterdependency Scale (Gregory & Berry, 1999), with Blum et al. (2021) providing a later instrument focused on the same construct and Blatt and Luyten (2009) supplying a structural-developmental framework. These sources do not validate this online questionnaire or establish norms for its bands. As a counterdependency assessment, it remains a self-report profile shaped by self-awareness, current context, and response bias.
- Gregory, R. J., & Berry, S. L. (1999). Measuring counterdependency in patients with chronic pain. Psychosomatic Medicine, 61(3), 341-345. 10.1097/00006842-199905000-00013
- Blum, L. D., Horenstein, A., Carper, M. M., Stange, J. P., Cohen, J. N., Doyle, A., & Smith, V. (2021). A New Instrument to Assess Counterdependency, Evaluated in the Context of Postpartum Depression. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 38(1), 49-57. 10.1037/pap0000317
- Blatt, S. J., & Luyten, P. (2009). A Structural-Developmental Psychodynamic Approach to Psychopathology: Two Polarities of Experience Across the Life Span. Development and Psychopathology, 21(3), 793-814. 10.1017/S0954579409000431
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