Levels of Object Representation in Anaclitic and Introjective Depression

Object representation is an evolving developmental process. New levels of object representation are achieved as the result of a consolidation (equilibration) of each developmental sequence. The development of object representation occurs through successive epigenetic stages including the sensorimotor, perceptual, iconic, and conceptual levels of development. At each of these levels, object representations become less literal and direct and more abstract and symbolic. Impairments in the development of object representation can occur at each of these levels, and each can have an important role in the potential vulnerability to depression. Actual, apparent, or fantasized object loss is often a major precipitant of depression because impairments in the development of object representation leave the individual vulnerable to object loss and to depression.

Based on a review of the theoretical, clinical, and research literature on depression and a formulation of levels of object representation derived from developmental psychology and psychoanalytic theory, an anaclitic and an introjective depression were differentiated. An anaclitic depression is characterized by feelings of helplessness, weakness, and depletion, and by wishes to be cared for, loved, fed, and protected. There are intense fears of being abandoned, oral cravings, and an urgency to fill an inner emptiness. In contrast to the oral quality of an anaclitic depression, the primary characteristics of an introjective depression derive from a