[Metapsychological considerations on the model of attachment of J. Bowlby]

Abstract

J. Bowlby's thought may be divided into two different aspects. The first one, which has had a fertile function in the history of psychoanalysis, emphasizes the influence of the real environment on the infant development and, furthermore, it shows that the infant attachment to the mother is based on a mutual instinctive behaviour, rather than on the oral drive. The second aspect concerns the construction of a new theory radically conflicting with metapsychology. Indeed, as Bowlby demonstrates, the latter is based on concepts (e.g. drive) incompatible with contemporary biology. Nevertheless, I think that these concepts have been misunderstood and that metapsychology is still unreplaceable, although it needs further developments. For instance, the possibility to base primitive (pre-object, pre-representational, pre-drive) relationship on metapsychology, preserving the economic viewpoint, may be examined carefully.