René Spitz’s Anaclitic Depression

Anaclitic depression is a term coined by René Spitz in 1945. Spitz was an Austrian-American psychoanalyst who worked as a psychiatrist at Mount Sinai Hospital and as a professor at various universities across the United States. He was heir to Freud’s postulates, but was mainly devoted to looking after children.

Spitz began studying child development in 1935 while still residing in Europe. He used direct observation and the experimental method for his studies. All of Spitz’s conclusions have a solid empirical basis. In 1945, he conducted a thorough research in an orphanage and, from his observations, the concept of anaclitic depression was born.

The work of this psychoanalyst had a great impact, both on the scientific community and on society in general. Much of his research was recorded in the film Psychogenic Disease in Early Childhood , made in 1952. This film had a significant impact and caused a change in the model of caring for children in hospitals. It also allowed the world to know the concept of anaclitic depression.

What is Anaclitic Depression

In the early thirties, when René Spitz began his research, it was thought in academic circles that children were incapable of depression. Some psychologists argued that depressive signs were clinically irrelevant in children. Psychoanalysts, on the other hand, said that children did not have the necessary capacity to reflect and that it was therefore impossible to be depressed.

Despite these widespread beliefs, two researchers decided to check for themselves what the validity of what was claimed was. These two researchers were René Spitz, creator of the concept of anaclitic depression, and John Bowlby, who studied in detail the relationship between mother and child in an infant’s early life.

Spitz concluded that children, from an early age, were also depressed. He found that this state included a complete picture of well-defined symptoms and that the child reacted with this form of depression to sudden separation from his mother or to bonds of affection for more than three months.

Characteristics of anaclitic depression

Spitz noted that anaclitic depression occurs in children under one year of age. It occurs when the baby develops a bond with the mother and suffers a sudden withdrawal for a period of three months. If that happens, the child starts to show a whole set of depressive symptoms.

The most visible symptoms are as follows:

• The baby loses the ability to express himself through his gestures. Basically, he stops smiling.
• Has anorexia or lack of appetite.
• Has difficulty sleeping. Sleeping hours are reduced or changed.
• Weight loss.
• It has a global psychomotor delay.

In case the emotional deprivation is prolonged for a period longer than 18 weeks, all symptoms are aggravated. The child enters a state that Spitz called “hospitalism”. The baby becomes unable to establish stable affective contacts and his health becomes very fragile. In many cases this leads to death.

The effects of research

There are references to a questionable experiment carried out by Frederick II the Great, King of Prussia. It is said that he ordered the construction of an orphanage in which the children’s physical needs were fully met.

Aspects such as hygiene, food, clothing, etc., were completely taken care of. However, it was forbidden to establish a bond of affection with the babies. The result of this test was that most babies died shortly thereafter.

René Spitz’s studies of anaclitic depression have led to a major shift in the way orphanages are run, at least in more developed countries. It was evident that the affective bonds with the babies were as important or more than the food itself. Therefore, the conditions of the children have markedly improved in these establishments.

Childhood depression exists and has increased around the world. Currently, suicide is the sixth leading cause of death among children aged 5 to 14 years. However, we must not forget that children with affective deprivation in their early stages develop behavior problems more often and tend to lead stormy lives.