ABSTRACT

Attachment theory developed from the pioneering work of John Bowlby (1907-90), a British child psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. At a time when many psychoanalysts were focusing their attention on the role of internal factors, such as instinct and fantasy, in the development of psychopathology, Bowlby turned his attention to the role of external factors which he believed to be of more significance. He intended, following Freud, that psychoanalysis should be respected, not only as a method of psychotherapy, but as a reputable science, ‘the science of unconscious mental processes’. Since scientific research begins with observation, Bowlby decided to study the responses of young children to separation and bereavement, for these could be accurately observed and were thought likely to be of pathogenic significance.