Frequently used as a textbook on university psychology courses.

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Product Description

This book brings together for the first time the work of John Bowlby and post-Bowlbian research. As well as providing insights into the history of the psychoanalytic movement it shows how Attachment Theory can inform the practice of psychotherapy.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21035 in Books
• Published on: 1993-09-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 264 pages

From the Back Cover
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.

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Customer Reviews

Book review
This is an excellent book for an overview of Bowlby and his theories. This book is very readable and therefore much more accessible than many other more academic books. As a counselling student I would definitely recommend it to other students.

very relevant to the study of developement of personality
For any reader with a keen interest in how the adult personality is influenced by the child's relationship with Mother or equivilant, this book is a must.Useful for parents who can evaluate how it may relate to their own views on parenting styles.It is useful for personal discovery and those interested in why people behave as they do within adult relationships .