Attachment and Loss (Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Series) Volume III Loss - Sadness and Depression

Separation, the second volume of Attachment and Loss, continues John Bowlby's influential work on the importance of the parental relationship to mental health. Here he considers separation and the anxiety that accompanies it: the fear of imminent or anticipated separation, the fear induced by parental threats of separation, and the inversion of the parent-child relationship. Dr Bowlby re-examines the situations that cause us to feel fear and compares them with evidence from animals. He concludes that fear is initially aroused by certain elemental situations - sudden movement, darkness or separation - which, although intrinsically harmless, are indicative of an increased risk of danger. A young child when removed from his mother and placed with strangers is distressed; subsequently he often becomes despairing and, later still, detached. There is evidence that reactions of this kind may underlie much psychopathology. In these volumes, John Bowlby, a pioneer in the field, considers the implications of these observations for psychoanalytic theory. Volume 1, Attachment, is devoted to an analysis of the nature of the child's tie to his mother. An examination of instinctive behavior leads to a theoretical formulation of attachment behavior- how it develops, how it is maintained, and what function it fulfills. Volume 2, Separation, will apply this theoretical scheme to the problems of separation anxiety and grief and the pathological forms they often assume. Volume 3, Loss, develops the study into consideration of mourning, depression, and defensive processes. The research contained in this volume set is based on years of observation and study, and is a pioneering work on several counts. Not only is it the most ambitious and exhaustive study of the subject ever undertaken, it also embodies a departure in psychoanalytic investigation. From Freud onwards, most analysts have worked from an existing condition backward to an earlier development. Dr. Bowlby here extrapolates forward from potentially pathogenic events to illuminate the pathways of the developing personality Pt. 1. Observations, Concepts And Controversies -- The Trauma Of Loss -- The Place Of Loss And Mourning In Psychopathology -- Conceptual Framework -- An Information Processing Approach To Defence -- Plan Of Work -- Pt. 2. The Mourning Of Adults -- Loss Of Spouse -- Loss Of Child -- Mourning In Other Cultures -- Disordered Variants -- Conditions Affecting The Course Of Mourning -- Personalities Prone To Disordered Mourning -- Childhood Experiences Of Persons Prone To Disordered Mourning -- Cognitive Processes Contributing To Variations In Response To Loss -- Sadness, Depression And Depressive Disorder -- Pt. 3. The Mourning Of Children -- Death Of Parent During Childhood And Adolescence -- Children's Responses When Conditions Are Favourable -- Childhood Bereavement And Psychiatric Disorder -- Conditions Responsible For Differences In Outcome -- Children's Responses When Conditions Are Unfavourable -- Deactivation And The Concept Of Segregated Systems -- Disordered Variants And Some Conditions Contributing -- Effects Of A Parent's Suicide -- Responses To Loss During The Third And Fourth Years -- Responses To Loss During The Second Year -- Young Children's Responses In The Light Of Early Cognitive Development. John Bowlby. Includes Indexes. Bibliography: P. 443-462. Provides a comprehensive report on the mother-child bond and the emotional effects of and behavioral response to maternal deprivation theories of child attatchment by john bowlby, very useful in child care