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The empirical face of attachment theory has foreclosed many possible links between attachment and psychoanalysis. Though the division between the two perspectives has been long, Fonagy's contributions point to the ongoing relationship.
Peter Fonagy's Attachment Theory and Psychoanalysis is a stimulating and scholarly book that points to the potential of a mutually beneficial relationship between psychoanalysis and attachment theories. He compares attachment theory to various psychoanalytic schools such as American and British object relations, pointing out areas of divergence as well as commonalities between these perspectives.
In the first two chapters, Fonagy introduces the reader to attachment theory and its key findings. He begins with Bowlby's theory of attachment, a theory that proposed that humans are predisposed to social interaction even if oral needs are not satisfied. Bowlby consistently focused on the infant's needs for a stable bond and for a secure base. This contradicted classical psychoanalysis that proposed that bonding to the caregiver is secondary to oral gratification . Fonagy takes the reader through refinements of attachment theory by Bowlby's followers (Ainsworth et al., 1978; Cassidy, 1988; Main, 1995). The shift and major addition to Bowlby's theory was that attachment could be measured not only through separation but also through an evaluation of the mother's departure and the infant's anticipation and reaction to her return (Ainsworth et al., 1978). This later direction moved attachment more towards the field of cognitive psychology and the area of affect regulation. Thus, attachment's divorce from psychoanalysis