Book description
Separation, the second volume of Attachment and Loss,
continues John Bowlby's influential work on the importance of the
parental relationship to mental health.
Here he considers separation and the anxiety that accompanies it:
the fear of imminent or anticipated separation, the fear induced by
parental threats of separation, and the inversion of the parent-child
relationship.
Dr Bowlby re-examines the situations that cause us to feel fear and
compares them with evidence from animals. He concludes that fear is
initially aroused by certain elemental situations - sudden movement,
darkness or separation - which, although intrinsically harmless, are
indicative of an increased risk of danger.
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.
