ABSTRACT
Child and adolescent psychotherapy is a newcomer amongst the professions, becoming firmly established after the Second World War. In hospital settings child psychotherapy has increased in the last two decades. However, the specific theoretical and clinical foundations for this hospital work date back to the beginnings of child psychotherapy. John Bowlby and his work not only gave an impetus to the foundation of the Association of Child Psychotherapy and to the establishment of formal trainings, but also his early work on maternal deprivation (Bowlby 1951) and subsequent work on attachment (Bowlby 1971) had immediate effect on the development of the theory and practice of child therapy.
