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Contemporary Scientific View
Contemporary Scientific View: Two Types of Depression
Anaclitic type
Introjective type
Contemporary giant in the fields of psychology and psychoanalytic theory, prof. Sidney Blatt, devoted over 30 years of intense research to the issue of depression. This resulted by a number of various research publications, and in 2004. With a book ‘Experiences of Depression: Theoretical, Clinical and Research Perspectives’.
Roots of his postulate about two essentially different types of depression he found already in Freud’s capital work on this subject “Mourning and Melancholia”, where Freud identifies two diverse mechanisms underlying depressive symptoms:
A) Depression focused primarily around interpersonal issues, dependency, helplessness, feelings of loss and abandonment
B) Depression originating from severe, punishing superego, characterized predominantly by self criticizing attitude, uncertainty about self worth, and feelings of failure and guilt.
Based on a huge amount of research material, surrounded by teams of research experts, in our contemporary times Blatt postulates two essentially different intrapsychic mechanisms, that each in its own way, lead towards development of depressive clinical picture. He elaborates this within clinical pictures of anaclitic and introjective depression.
Anaclitic depression
Person described as anaclitic is characterized by particular basic relationships with close ones, founded on strong dependency issues, mingled with fears of abandonment and possibilities of being unloved. Psychological functioning is centred on dependency, and by those means anaclitic person satisfies particular emotional needs. This type of depression primarily develops around issues of object loss, and in most cases is not complicated by feelings of guilt.
Dominant emotions include feelings of helplessness, weakness of personality, fears of abandonment. On the other hand, as a direct consequnce of the mentioned one often identifies intense wishes of such a person to be taken care of, and protected. Anaclitic person habitually expresses certain difficulties in tolerating delay when it comes to satisfaction of the above mentioned needs. In accordance with developmental psychodynamic postulates this partially corresponds to maturity level of a child. Feelings of pleasure are mostly of a transitory, momental nature, deriving from experience of being loved.
This type of depression can be associated with a spectrum of psychological disturbances, such as feeding disorders, suicide attempts, particularly ones involving medicament overdose.
Introjective depression
It is possible to define this type of depression as self-criticizing type. It is not a mistake to name it a “superego form”. It is characterized by punishing, harsh feeling of doubt in one’s own self, high levels of self criticism, feelings of guilt, shame and depressive affect. Persons who suffer from this type of depressive disorder tend to get involved in various activities with the aim to compensate personal feelings of inferiority, worthlessness, guilt. They typically live by high standards (severe superego), thus expressing a constant need to perform and achieve various goals.
Due to very high, almost unreachable standards set forth by a severe superego they are not in position to fulfil those criteria. This is the reason why introjective persons often suffer from feeling of guilt and shame, as their inner feeling and attitude is of a kind of not living in accordance with their own expectations, or expectations of close others, sometimes even wider social milieu. Lifestyle formed on this basis clearly points out at distortion and reduction of capacities for enjoying life.
Research revealed that patients with high levels of introjective pathology might express severe suicidal tendencies, and perform highly lethal suicidal attempts. One of psychological understandings of such tendencies includes basic needs of introjective person: to maintain personal and public image of strength and perfection. This, as a consequent, provokes a constant need for self affirmation. Anaclitic persons feel as if they were always in some kind of interrogation, they are highly sensitive to criticism and/or failure to succeed, and are often unable to turn to others, even the closest ones, to share thoughts and tensions with, eventually seek for help.
NOTE: As for the complexity of psychic apparatus, and varieties of human experience, it is necessary to underline that in practical work we often meet combined depressive clinical pictures, containing both anaclitic and introjective traits.
Anaclitic type
Introjective type
Contemporary giant in the fields of psychology and psychoanalytic theory, prof. Sidney Blatt, devoted over 30 years of intense research to the issue of depression. This resulted by a number of various research publications, and in 2004. With a book ‘Experiences of Depression: Theoretical, Clinical and Research Perspectives’.
Roots of his postulate about two essentially different types of depression he found already in Freud’s capital work on this subject “Mourning and Melancholia”, where Freud identifies two diverse mechanisms underlying depressive symptoms:
A) Depression focused primarily around interpersonal issues, dependency, helplessness, feelings of loss and abandonment
B) Depression originating from severe, punishing superego, characterized predominantly by self criticizing attitude, uncertainty about self worth, and feelings of failure and guilt.
Based on a huge amount of research material, surrounded by teams of research experts, in our contemporary times Blatt postulates two essentially different intrapsychic mechanisms, that each in its own way, lead towards development of depressive clinical picture. He elaborates this within clinical pictures of anaclitic and introjective depression.
Anaclitic depression
Person described as anaclitic is characterized by particular basic relationships with close ones, founded on strong dependency issues, mingled with fears of abandonment and possibilities of being unloved. Psychological functioning is centred on dependency, and by those means anaclitic person satisfies particular emotional needs. This type of depression primarily develops around issues of object loss, and in most cases is not complicated by feelings of guilt.
Dominant emotions include feelings of helplessness, weakness of personality, fears of abandonment. On the other hand, as a direct consequnce of the mentioned one often identifies intense wishes of such a person to be taken care of, and protected. Anaclitic person habitually expresses certain difficulties in tolerating delay when it comes to satisfaction of the above mentioned needs. In accordance with developmental psychodynamic postulates this partially corresponds to maturity level of a child. Feelings of pleasure are mostly of a transitory, momental nature, deriving from experience of being loved.
This type of depression can be associated with a spectrum of psychological disturbances, such as feeding disorders, suicide attempts, particularly ones involving medicament overdose.
Introjective depression
It is possible to define this type of depression as self-criticizing type. It is not a mistake to name it a “superego form”. It is characterized by punishing, harsh feeling of doubt in one’s own self, high levels of self criticism, feelings of guilt, shame and depressive affect. Persons who suffer from this type of depressive disorder tend to get involved in various activities with the aim to compensate personal feelings of inferiority, worthlessness, guilt. They typically live by high standards (severe superego), thus expressing a constant need to perform and achieve various goals.
Due to very high, almost unreachable standards set forth by a severe superego they are not in position to fulfil those criteria. This is the reason why introjective persons often suffer from feeling of guilt and shame, as their inner feeling and attitude is of a kind of not living in accordance with their own expectations, or expectations of close others, sometimes even wider social milieu. Lifestyle formed on this basis clearly points out at distortion and reduction of capacities for enjoying life.
Research revealed that patients with high levels of introjective pathology might express severe suicidal tendencies, and perform highly lethal suicidal attempts. One of psychological understandings of such tendencies includes basic needs of introjective person: to maintain personal and public image of strength and perfection. This, as a consequent, provokes a constant need for self affirmation. Anaclitic persons feel as if they were always in some kind of interrogation, they are highly sensitive to criticism and/or failure to succeed, and are often unable to turn to others, even the closest ones, to share thoughts and tensions with, eventually seek for help.
NOTE: As for the complexity of psychic apparatus, and varieties of human experience, it is necessary to underline that in practical work we often meet combined depressive clinical pictures, containing both anaclitic and introjective traits.