John Bowlby revisited – a retrospective review

Abstract

Abstract

This article is a retrospective review of the three volumes of Bowlby's trilogy, Attachment and Loss, where he set out his revolutionary view of attachment as the dominant drive behind human behaviour. Harris discusses the impact this has had on psychological thinking, in particular on ideas about mourning, and the connection with Darwinian evolution. Bowlby's concept of the secure base and ideas on the development of childhood attachment styles that can have a lifelong influence have crucial implications for all who work in the bereavement field.