was postulated within psychoanalytic theory. Independent empirical support came from Bowlby's newly arising field of Attachment Theory. Bowlby and attachment trauma John Bowlby, a British psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, was very interested in the impact on a child of adverse experiences in relation to its primary attachment figures (usually the mother, but often the father and others) in early life. He concluded, in opposition to received psychoanalytic dogma of the day, that childhood experience was far more important than unconscious fantasy. He also elucidated the nature of attachment, a system of behaviours exhibited by human and other mammalian infants which are innate and have the goal of physical proximity to the mother. For instance, a child taken out of its mother's arms cries loudly in protest, and it is only quieted by being restored to its mother's arms. Bowlby observed that the innate attachment system would be activated by loss of proximity to the mother, and that long-lasting trauma to the child could result from attachment interruption. Long term consequences included increased propensity to psychiatric disorders, poor relationship function, and decreased life satisfaction. Bowlby conducted numerous studies and noted strong correlations between adverse early-life circumstances—primarily the lack of a consistent and nurturing relationship with the mother—as the source of numerous difficulties, including persistent depression, anxiety, or delinquency in adulthood. Childhood traumatisation to the attachment bond, usually through separation from or loss of the primary mother or mother-substitute, led to adult difficulties. Since Bowlby, the effects of trauma over development have consistently been shown to have a significant detrimental impact on adult psychological functioning. Davanloo's discovery of the unconscious consequences of attachment trauma In the 1960s, while Bowlby was observing children directly, Davanloo was beginning his work with symptomatic and character-disturbed adults. As he began his video-recording work and became progressively successful against higher levels of resistance, he noted that particular themes reappeared with striking consistency in patient after patient. First, the therapist's efforts to get to know the patient's true feelings often aroused a simultaneous mixed feeling in the patient, composed of deep appreciation for the therapist's relentless efforts to get to know the patient deeply, combined with equally deep irritation at the therapist for challenging the patient to abandon long-held resistances which could thwart the therapeutic effort. Davanloo noted, in concert with Malan's Triangle of Conflict, that patients would unconsciously resist the therapist's efforts to get to the root of