If you are caring for a loved one, remember to take care of yourself. Monitor yourself for depression - anaclitic and introjective depression. Anaclitic depression involves a person who feels dependent upon relationships with others and who essentially grieves over the threatened or actual loss of those relationships. Anaclitic depression is caused by the disruption of a caregiving relationship with a primary object and is characterized by feelings of helplessness and weakness. A person with anaclitic depression experiences intense fears of abandonment and desperately struggles to maintain direct physical contact with the need-gratifying object.
Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12626134; huffington post
