ABSTRACT
The case for understanding the vital need for “secure attachment” in babies and young children as a basis for their sound development and good mental health has now been so well made that it no longer needs to be elaborated here. John Bowlby was able to recognize that the seeking of attachment is vital for babies and young children for their actual survival. One of the main areas where the emotional needs of children have finally come to be recognized is in hospitals. Very few doctors or nurses recognized that mothers and young children needed care as “a unit”. It is interesting to recall that, at this time, aristocratic and well-to-do families rarely sent their children to hospital, so there was no issue of separation for them as those children were nursed at home and doctors attended them there. The 1970s was an exciting time for psychosexual counselling, as a lot of information was becoming available, mostly from the USA.
