Furthermore, the author found a variety of developmental challenges that seem common in
everyday life and clinical practice. Dumbo, as a very young
elephant, had to cope with a forced separation from his “mad
elephant” mother, while Nemo, as an early school age child,
had a difficult time normatively separating from his overprotective
father Marlin, who remained traumatized from the
shark attack that took the lives of Nemo’s mother and 400 plus egg siblings.