ABSTRACT
In the spring of 1968, when I happened to be in California, the San Francisco Psychoanalytic Society organized a conference for mental health workers of all professions on ‘Separation and Loss’. I was invited to contribute and presented a version of this paper. It was subsequently amplified with the assistance of my colleague, Colin Murray Parkes, and the result published in 1970 under our joint authorship. It is republished here with his permission.
