The Concept of Synchronization in the Process of Separation-Individuation between a Parent and an Adolescent

Abstract

Humans experience the process of separating-individuating themselves from an object via conflicts between dependence and independence within the self. Mahler’s separation-individuation theory focused on infancy and the psychological process of individualizing oneself. However, little data concerning the individuation process during adolescence and adulthood is available. Although adolescents’ individuation from their parents is based on intrapsychic events, there is an increasing need for an intersubjective understanding of it. As adolescents rapidly grow and change, they experience various dynamic interactions with their parents. Through learning to tolerate the conflicts and ambivalent tension inherent in this individuation process, they develop their new identity. In the case of an adolescent boy with conduct problems and his interactions with his father, the authors observed the phenomenon of intersubjectivity, and proposed the concept of ‘synchronized individuation’ between adolescents and parents. ‘Synchronized individuation’ should be understood as complementary to, rather than exclusive from, the existing concept of individuation. It offers a new paradigm with which to understand adolescent-parent conflicts in the process of separation-individuation.