In this third and final volume John Bowlby completes the trilogy Attachment anf Loss, his much acclaimed work on the importance of the parental relationship to mental health. Here he examines the ways in which young children respond to a temporary of permenant loss of a mother-figure and the expression of anxiety, grief and mourning which accompany such loss. The theories presented differ in many ways from those advanced by Freud and elaborated by his followers, so much so that the frame of reference now offered for understanding personality developement and psychopathology amounts to a new paradigm.
May years ago, reading Bowlby defined an important interval in my reading and thinking. This was the third book in the series "Attachment", "Separation", and "Loss" that shaped my personal experience and my thought about psychology. Other works later took precedence over Bowlby's theories and investigations but they did not fully supplant them.
"Loss" was the most important in the series for me personally because it explained fundamental aspects of my childhood that I was not able to resolve until over a decade since I had read Bowlby. The good man wrote the book to read about depression in my view.
I would have to reread this work now or fully review it to review it but I do recall it being important to me.
Excellent seminal text. Print font displayed as original text. Chapters remain relevant to contemporary society. Can be read as well as reference text.