James Robertson (1911 – 1988) was a psychiatric social worker and psychoanalyst based at the Tavistock Clinic and Institute, London from 1948 until 1976.
'(He) was a remarkable person who achieved great things. His sensitive observations and brilliant observations made history, and the courage with which he disseminated - often in the face of ignorant and prejudiced criticism - what were then very unpopular findings, was legendary. He will always...
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James Robertson (1911 – 1988) was a psychiatric social worker and psychoanalyst based at the Tavistock Clinic and Institute, London from 1948 until 1976.
'(He) was a remarkable person who achieved great things. His sensitive observations and brilliant observations made history, and the courage with which he disseminated - often in the face of ignorant and prejudiced criticism - what were then very unpopular findings, was legendary. He will always be remembered as the man who revolutionised children's hospitals, though he accomplished much else besides. I am personally deeply grateful for all that he did.' – John Bowlby.
James Robertson was born in Glasgow and grew up in a closely-knit working class family. He became a Quaker in his late teens, and in the Second World War he registered as a conscientious objector. In 1941 James and his wife Joyce Robertson joined Anna Freud in the Hampstead Wartime Nurseries. Joyce was a student caring for the infants who had lost family life due to...
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