ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the adverse effects of maternal deprivation. It is that Bowlby's special contribution can be looked for. The whole set-out shows how much time and thought he has given to the subject and this part is of practical value and will be appreciated by the wide public of the world. There is a film by Dr Bowlby and his team which excellently illustrates distressing facts about a child becoming deprived although happily able to recover. Everyone who has worked in a children's hospital ward has had the chance to witness what this film briefly shows and to witness it over and over again. Loss of the mother-figure is surely not pathogenic because of the processes of mourning. It is very specifically as a result of Melanie Klein's work that we have a great deal to say about the pathology of small children and older persons whose capacity to mourn has been over-strained.
