The relevance of ethology to interpersonal psychodynamics and to wider social issues

After a presentation of bowlby's attachment theory and ethological point of view, the authors have suggested that the sequence of symbiosis and separation-individuation, described by Mahler, may be integrated within this frame of reference. The root of psychopathology is considered to be a complex structure, termed bad symbiosis, in which the dual unsatisfied basic needs of the mother interact with those of the child. Clinical illustrations of this structure, as well as of its wider context, the family symbiosis, have been provided. Therapy is regarded as a procedure to help the patient to reconstruct the basic behavioral sequence. In a still wider context, psychopathology may be viewed as due to the interference of an alien culture with the unfolding of the innate behavioral sequence. Finally, the affinity of this etiological point of view with the interpersonal approach has been discussed.