Beginning with the analysis by Freud of a game first played by a small boy, the author illustrates his theme of separation anxiety by a clinical vignette, the work of Ronald Fair-bairn and his experience with psychiatric residents.
Theories of separation anxiety are examined and the essay is concluded with another clinical example, demonstrating the ambivalence present in all relationships, and with a series of nine propositions which analyse the determinants underlying the compulsive quality of saying good-bye when two or more people separate.
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