In a recent book that I was reading the author described marriage as existing in three styles or types. In her opinion marriage could take on only three different forms. Those were convenience, codependency, and covenant.
The first, a convenience marriage, is a marriage that is built around money and sex. The two partners do not share an emotional bind. They are in the marriage for superficial reasons. In most cases the couple is unhappy but stays in the marriage for the security or due to the fear of change.
The two may be very social and have a high status that they enjoy. One or the other may even have a partner on the side to try to maintain happiness.
In order for these marriages to work, the mates will either give each other their own space and live in essence separate lives or one person will continuous give in and sacrifice his or her own happiness in order to keep the other satisfied.
The second type of marriage discussed was the codependent marriage. In a codependent marriage, there is much more than money or sex at stake. One partner in this type of marriage becomes completely consumed with the other. In these marriages there is often one person who lives in the shadow of the other. While it may seem that only one partner is dependent they both are in that the person with power needs the other to remain powerful. The two live depending back and forth on one another. They live one life and never stray far enough to have lives or thoughts of their own. There is never enough room for either person to grow as an individual.
In many cases these marriage diminish if one partner ventures out of the strong sacred grip hold of the marriage and tries a new adventure or spends time alone.