Bowlby before Bowlby: the sources of an intellectual departure in psychoanalysis and psychology.

Violence in the family as a disorder of the attachment and caregiving systems.

The transference refracted through the lens of attachment.

Attachment theory, borne of the mind of an analyst, John Bowlby (1960, 1969, 1973, 1980), has developed a rich and comprehensive intellectual framework about achieving security and coping with separation and loss. Until recently, this theoretical framework has pursued its developmental pathway fairly independently of psychoanalysis and analytic technique. Following Ainsworth and colleagues (197...

The Origins of Attachment Theory:

Attachment theory is the joint work of John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth (Ainsworth & Bowlby, 1991 ). Drawing on concepts from ethology, cybernetics, information processing, developmental psychology, and psychoanalysts, John Bowlby formulated the basic tenets of the theory. He thereby revolutionized our thinking about a child’s tie to the mother and its disruption through separation, deprivation, ...

Chapter 5 attachment Theory within a Modern evolutionary framework

as this quotation indicates, Charles Darwin was an attachment theorist. Although he focused on “society” (instead of significant others) and “comrades” (instead of attachment figures), Darwin was the first scientist to appreciate the full extent to which human social nature is a product of selection pressures. John Bowlby, who not only admired Darwin’s theoretical vision but was one of his biog...

Home Attachment Psychology Mary Ainsworth Privation Deprivation

John Bowlby was a psychoanalyst (like Freud) and believed that mental health and behavioural problems could be attributed to early childhood. Bowlby's evolutionary theory of attachment suggests that children come into the world biologically pre-programmed to form attachments with others, because this will help them to survive. Bowlby was very much influenced by ethological theory in general, bu...