...When He's All I Think About...

I've been taking care of John for the past few months...he gets so lost in his own head...and sometimes he needs me to be strict with him, to keep him on track. It feels weird, though...like I'm both nurturing and disciplining an adult man who is supposed to take care of himself...He always looks at me with this childlike hope when I come over, like I'm his lifeline...and sometimes it's overwhelming. Last night he told me if I didn't step in more often, he'd fall apart completely...Is that normal for a caregiver?...Sometimes I wonder if there's something deeper going on here, but then again, maybe I'm just reading too much into everything...Have any of you ever felt like this before with someone who needed help?