John Bowlby and attachment theory

John Bowlby (1907-1990) has been described as 'one of the three or four most important psychiatrists of the twentieth century'.

In this book Jeremy Holmes provides a focused and coherent account of Bowlby's life and work, based on interviews with members of his family and with psychoanalysts who knew him.

Bowlby's Attachment Theory is one of the major theoretical developments in psychoanalysis this half-century.

Combining the rigorous scientific empiricism of ethology with the subjective insights of psychoanalysis, it has had an enormous impact in the fields of child development, social work, psychology, and psychiatry.

Jeremy Holmes examines the origins of Bowlby's ideas, and presents the main features of Attachment Theory and their relevance to contemporary psychoanalytic psychotherapy.

He looks at the processes of attachment, and of loss, and reviews recent experimental evidence linking secure attachment in infancy with the development of 'autobiographical competence'.

He also provides fascinating insights into the history of the psychoanalytic movement, and considers the way in which Attachment Theory can help in understanding society and its problems.An overview and summary of John Bowlby's life in a condensed and readable form, and presents the main features of Attachment Theory and their relevance to contemporary psychoanalytic movement and looks at the ways in which Attachment Theory can help in the understanding of society and its problems.

In the three sections of the book the author first examines the origins of Bowlby's ideas, the discovery of Attachment Theory which brings together the principles of psychoanalysis and of ethology, and also a discussion of 'maternal depriviation' and its critics, both feminist and experimental.

The second section is an exposition of Attachment Theory looking at the processes of attachment itself, and loss and recent experimental evidence linking secure attachment in infancy with the development of 'autobiographical competence' is reviewed.

The third section of the book consists of the applications of Attachment Theory in psychoanalysis, adult psychotherapy, psychiatry and sociology.