The Importance of Fathers

It is widely acknowledged that children need structure, security, stability and attachment to develop and flourish, and that the father is an important part of this. Issues such as high divorce rates, new family structures, increased mobility, women's liberation and contraception are very common in society. This book sets out to explore what has happened to men and to fathers during all these changes and transitions. Judith Trowell and Alicia Etchegoyen, along with an array of renowned contributors, consider the importance of fathers in various situations, including: - the role of the father at different stage of children's development - the missing father - loss of a father - grandfathers. It is argued that the father is important, not only to support the main carer (usually the mother) but also to provide a caring, thinking, comfortable, confident presence.

Judith Trowell is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at the Tavistock Clinic, London. Alicia Etchegoyen is a Psychoanalyst and Child Analyst at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.

Obholzer, Foreword. Trowell, Introduction: Setting the Scene. Etchegoyen, Psychoanalytic Ideas About Fathers. Mainly Theoretical.Target, Fonagy, The Role of the Father and Child Development: Fathers in Modern Psychoanalysis and Society. Davids, Fathers in the Internal World. Marks, Letting Fathers In. Britton, Forever Father's Daughter: The Athene-Antigone Complex. Brafman, Grandfathers. Mainly Clinical.Emanuel, On Becoming a Father - Reflections from Infant Observation. Youell, Missing Fathers - Hope and Disappointment.Barrows, Barrows, Fathers and the Transgenerational: Impact of Loss. Blundell, Fatherless Sons: Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy with Bereaved Boys. Johns, Identification and Dis-identification in the Development of Sexual Identity. Flynn, The Adoptive Father. Yorke, Fathers and Disability. Concluding Comments.Baily, English Policy Papers and Author's Comments.