By Saul McLeod , published Bowlby used the term maternal deprivation to refer to the separation or loss of the mother as well as failure to develop an attachment. Are the effects of maternal deprivation as dire as Bowlby suggested? Michael Rutter wrote a book called Maternal Deprivation Re-assessed. In the book, he suggested that Bowlby may have oversimplified the concept of maternal deprivation.