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We begin life by separating. From the oceanic uterine environs of the mother, we depart and enter the world. Under good-enough circumstances, we also begin to bond. Whether the bond is secure or not, anxiety soon colors the emotional landscape. Although we often speak of separation anxiety as a child's experience, the feeling follows us over the years of our lives, manifesting differently at different stages of development. In the time between birth and death, we drift between the two poles represented by a desire to merge and a desire to distance. And so it goes, managing the vicissitudes of bonding and separating, until we arrive at the final separation, which is death.
Sylvie Zwettler-Otte explores the phenomenon in her deftly written book, The Melody of Separation: A Psychoanalytic Study of Separation Anxiety. Zwettler-Otte expands the concept of separation anxiety and discusses how it can influence one's experience over the life span. She uses a variety of clinical vignettes to elucidate her points. Her reading of psychoanalytic works from Freud to Green, Kohon to Quinodoz, demonstrates a keen eye for the shades of separation. In addition, she uses ample art and literary references to round out her observations on separation.