John Bowlby
and attachment theory
From John Bowlby, QUID+ learned that the way we relate to our child profoundly influences the person she will become as an adult.
John Bowlby, after graduating from Trinity College, Cambridge, with a degree in preclinical sciences and psychology, specialised in psychiatry and psychoanalysis. In 1940 he became a member of the British Psychoanalytical Society, founded to promote the dissemination of the ideas and practices of psychoanalysis. After World War II, Bowlby joined the Tavistock Clinic, where he was able to systematically study the effects of separation from the mother on the personality of children. Thanks to his work, the foundations were laid for improved obstetric and paediatric practice in hospitals throughout the West. In the late 1960s, Bowlby formulated and published his most important study: “Attachment”, in which he set out his theory. His work is still among the most studied and influential in psychology today.
