Background: Alcoholism carries with it a host of social problems. Both the drinker and the family unit are affected. When the wife is a co-dependent it  interferes with the recovery of the alcoholic. Objectives: A study was conducted to assess the level of co-dependency and depressive symptoms among wives of alcoholics.   Methods: A descriptive Co-relational design was used to assess the co-dependency and depressive symptoms. Sample size was 100.  Non Probability Convenience sampling technique was used for selecting the samples. Results: 52% of the subjects were found to be moderately Co-dependent and 48% were found to be highly co-dependent. 75% of the samples had shown severe depression symptoms. Findings showed a positive correlation between co–dependency and depression. Significant relation was found between co-dependency and demographic variables like age, number of children, type of family, duration of married life, duration of alcohol consumption by husband and alcoholic history in parents .Significant relation was found between depressive symptoms and demographic variables like age, number of children, educational status, occupational status, type of family and duration of alcohol consumption by husband. Conclusion: The present study revealed positive correlation between co – dependency and depression among wives of alcoholics.  

Keywords: Co-dependency;  Depressive symptoms; Alcoholics.