Loss - Sadness and Depression

Attachment and Loss Volume 3

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Summary

In this third and final volume John Bowlby completes the trilogy Attachment and Loss, his much acclaimed work on the importance of the parental relationship to mental health. Here he examines the ways in which young children respond to a temporary or permanent loss of a mother-figure and the expression of anxiety, grief and mourning which accompany such loss. The theories presented differ in many ways from those advanced by Freud and elaborated by his followers, so much so that the frame of reference now offered for understanding personality development and psychopathology amounts to a new paradigm.

Attachment and Loss is a deeply important series of works that continue to influence the landscape of psychoanalysis and psychology, and Loss its revelatory closing chapter.

Reviews

It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of Dr Bowlby's work... In practical terms, his ideas have modified and continue to influence the rearing of children and the treatment of those who are disturbed. In theoretical terms, his contributions have given psychoanalysis a shot in the arm and a biological perspective which was sadly lacking.
Sunday Times

About the author

E J M Bowlby

John Bowlby (1907 - 1990) was educated at the University of Cambridge and University College Hospital, London. After qualifying in medicine, he specialised in child psychiatry and psychoanalysis. In 1946 he joined the staff of the Tavistock Clinic where his research and influential publications contributed to far-reaching changes in the ways children are treated and to radical new thinking about the social and emotional development of human beings.
He held honorary degrees from the Universities of Cambridge and Leicester and received awards from professional and scientific bodies, including the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the British Paediatric Association, the American Psychological Association and the New York Academy of Medicine.

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