ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author explains that he was first drawn by the writings of Donald Winnicott during his residency in general psychiatry in the mid-1960s. Winnicott provided a constant stream of evocative questions, ideas, insights, and reflections. It is noteworthy that the closest to a unified theory that Winnicott came to present is found in Human Nature, which was not published in Winnicott's lifetime but posthumously and was perhaps never intended for publication by him because he recognized its incompleteness. Winnicott's openness, his lively mind, and dedication to his work were constantly refreshing. John Bowlby himself focused on well-wrought presentation of others' work, a collection of research methodology from humans, animals, feedback theory, and philosophy of science. When Bowlby speaks of separation, it is inevitably to focus on the potential for dysfunction. Winnicott seems aware of the broader aspects of separation in introducing the separation paradigm with the birth of a foal.
