Mahler's Theory Research Articles

Exploring Margaret Mahler's Theory: Applications in Borderline Personality Disorder Treatment within Psychiatric Wards.

This article delves into fundamental themes within Margaret Mahler's separation-individuation theory, placing particular emphasis on the rapprochement phase. It illustrates how these themes are crucial for comprehending and effectively managing inpatients grappling with borderline personality disorder. Mahler's conceptual framework offers valuable insights for caregivers and staff, equipping them to navigate the clinical and emotional complexities inherent in the treatment of this distinct patient population during their stay in psychiatric wards.

Psychological birth – the separation-individuation process among female Adult Children of Alcoholics

IntroductionThe research aims to answer the following question: What are the dynamics of the separation-individuation process (according to Margaret Mahler's theory) in women who are Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACoA) in comparison to women who did not experience a parent's alcoholism in their childhood. The authors state that children of alcohol-dependent parents may experience relational traumas and this may inhibit the separation-individuation process. The study also seeks to answer whether there are relations between the severity of the difficulties in the area of separation-individuation and parentification (role reversal) in the past and in the present parentification of ACoA women. MethodResearch was conducted on 110 women (55 from an experimental group and 55 from a control group). The following tools were used to measure the variables: Children of Alcoholics Screening Test (CAST) by Jones and Pilat and the PATHSEP questionnaire by Lapsley for estimating the dynamics of the separation-individuation process. A questionnaire FRS-A (Filial Responsibility Scale for Adults) by Jurkovic and Thirkield to study levels of parentification was also used. ResultsThe results of the study have shown that distortions in the separation-individuation process occur more often in women with the ACoA syndrome compared to women who did not grow up in alcoholic families. In the ACoA group the sense of injustice associated with parentification in the past was a mediator of the relation between difficulties in the separation-individuation process and current sense of injustice. Discussion and conclusionsThe analysis of the results of this study serves as a valuable guide for work with women who experienced a parent's alcoholism in their childhood. It seems relevant that educational and therapeutic work with these women should include the component of regaining their intrapsychic and interpersonal individuality.

“Psychic Twins”: A Psycho-Dynamically Informed Treatment of a Selectively Mute Adolescent and Her Mother

A discussion of the first part of a two-year treatment of a selectively mute adolescent, J, during the writer's predoctoral internship attempts to add to the limited literature on treating adolescents with selective mutism (SM) and, specifically, the use of mother-child dyadic work. Hayden's (1981) description of symbiotic mutism and Mahler's theory of separation and individuation (Mahler, Pine, & Bergman, 1975) are used as a relational lens through which to conceptualize J's symptom picture, understand evolving transference and countertransference dynamics and guide therapeutic interventions. The use of photography and drawing as nonverbal mediums to facilitate J's emerging “voice” and differentiation from mother are discussed. Despite J's continued silence with the therapist, the considerable intra-psychic and behavioral shifts exhibited by J (including increased speech with strangers) and her family over the course of the treatment, and built upon in the second year of the treatment with Lauren DeMille, described elsewhere in this issue of Journal of Infant, Child, and Adolescent Psychotherapy, attest to the possibility of therapeutic progress in the absence of speech.

Disruptions in the Separation-Individuation Process of Domestically Violent Men

ABSTRACT In the past twenty-five years, domestic violence has emerged as a significant social issue for research and theory development. This paper proposes an examination of domestic violence through the lens of Margaret Mahler's separation-individuation theory of development. This paper examines the existing empirical literature of domestically violent men using Mahler's theory of development. The paper then discusses the results from an empirical examination of the hypothesis that men who batter evidence disruptions in the separation-individuation process. This study has implications for treatment of domestically violent men, and suggests that interventions should include models that develop insight into the effects from developmental ruptures.

Analyst Heals Divide Between Eastern, Western Mind Sets

Analyst Heals Divide Between Eastern, Western Mind Sets

Reapproaching Mahler: new perspectives on normal autism, symbiosis, splitting and libidinal object constancy from cognitive developmental theory.

Margaret Mahler's seminal work on the psychological birth of the infant has generated more critical discussion than most other psychoanalytic theories of early development. But while the empirically, theoretically, and methodologically based criticisms of Mahler's theory are generally justified, her critics fail at times to consider some of the intriguing and creative insights that her theoretical formulations tried to capture. This paper attempts to reformulate these insights using the new conceptual tools that current cognitive developmental theory provides. Mahler's stage of normal autism is reconsidered in the light of contingency detection theory as an initial phase of primary preoccupation with self-generated perfectly response-contingent stimulation. Her concept of normal symbiosis is recast with the help of attachment theory's views on homeostatic regulation and the social biofeedback model of affect-reflective mirroring interactions with parents. Finally, her ideas about the development of splitting and libidinal object constancy are reconsidered according to recent theories of early representational development and mentalization.

Reapproaching Mahler: New Perspectives On Normal Autism, Symbiosis, Splitting and Libidinal Object Constancy From Cognitive Developmental Theory

Margaret Mahler's seminal work on the psychological birth of the infant has generated more critical discussion than most other psychoanalytic theories of early development. But while the empirically, theoretically, and methodologically based criticisms of Mahler's theory are generally justified, her critics fail at times to consider some of the intriguing and creative insights that her theoretical formulations tried to capture. This paper attempts to reformulate these insights using the new conceptual tools that current cognitive developmental theory provides. Mahler's stage of normal autism is reconsidered in the light of contingency detection theory as an initial phase of primary preoccupation with self-generated perfectly response-contingent stimulation. Her concept of normal symbiosis is recast with the help of attachment theory's views on homeostatic regulation and the social biofeedback model of affect-reflective mirroring interactions with parents. Finally, her ideas about the development of splitting and libidinal object constancy are reconsidered according to recent theories of early representational development and mentalization.

A Comparative Study of the Effects of a Developmentally Based Instructional Model on Young Children with Autism and Young Children with Other Disorders of Behavior and Development

The progress made by two different groups of preschool children, those with autism or related disorders and those with other emotional/behavioral and developmental disorders, in a particular instruction model was examined. The model was developmentally based and heavily influenced by Piaget's theory of cognitive development, pragmatics theory of language development, and Mahler's theory of development of interpersonal relationships. Both groups of children made greater progress than was predicted by their initial developmental rates in cognitive and language areas. An important and unexpected finding was the similar amount of progress made by the two groups: Specifically, the groups with autism did not make less progress than the comparison group, which ran contrary to our hypothesis.

Infant development and the sense of self: Stern VS. Mahler

Recent research into infant development and the development of the sense of self appears to contradict Mahler's theory of separation-individuation. The author proposes that these theories are not as divergent as first appears. Discerning shared features of these theories should prove clinically relevant and will enhance the social work clinician's understanding of early development and its relation to adult psychopathology.

Rapprochement or approchement: Mahler's theory reconsidered from the vantage point of recent research in early attachment relationships.

Rapprochement or approchement: Mahler's theory reconsidered from the vantage point of recent research in early attachment relationships.

Rapprochement or approchement: Mahler's theory reconsidered from the vantage point of recent research in early attachment relationships.

Rapprochement or approchement: Mahler's theory reconsidered from the vantage point of recent research in early attachment relationships.

Rapprochement or approchement: Mahler's theory reconsidered from the vantage point of recent research on early attachment relationships.

Rapprochement or approchement: Mahler's theory reconsidered from the vantage point of recent research on early attachment relationships.

The Developmental Context of Internalized Preoedipal Object Relations

Mahler's theory of symbiosis and separation-individuation demonstrates the essential unity of drive, ego, and object relations psychologies. By highlighting the role that early dyadic relations play in psychic structure formation, her theory expands the understanding of human psychic development and its failures. This paper reviews Mahler's propositions and underscores their clinical importance by describing two cases where much preoedipal reconstructive work preceded the emergence of an analyzable oedipal transference neurosis.

An exploration of separation-individuation themes in the borderline personality disorder.

In an attempt to test hypotheses derived from Mahler's theory of borderline development, Rorschach protocols of borderline and schizophrenic patients were studied for the presence of themes related to the separation-individuation process. A specially constructed Separation-Individuation Theme Scale was used with a 96% reliability of agreement between two raters. The borderline group attained more separation-individuation themes than the schizophrenic group, whereas the schizophrenics showed more preseparation-individuation themes. The results were interpreted as a validation of Mahler's theory. In addition, the results tended to confirm a developmental model for the understanding of psychopathology.

A crisis intervention perspective on the termination process

Recognition of termination as a crisis of separation/individuation supports a crisis intervention approach to work during this phase, with guidelines derived from Mahler's theory of separation/individuation, Bowlby's theory of attachment and loss, and James Mann's notion of the subjective meaning of time. The social work literature on the topic is reviewed, and case examples illustrate varying responses to termination depending on the perception of the experience as a threat, loss, or challenge.

Therapeutic interventions with families with psychotic young children

Mahler's theory of infantile psychosis focuses on the distortion or omission of the symbiotic relationship between mother and child. The child's defective utilization of the mother, often a result of constitutional vulnerability, prevents internalization of the mother's functions, ego development, and differentiation of self. The child's deficiency may also exacerbate the mother's vulnerabilities, causing her to respond in ways which further inhibit the child's development. This article presents the treatment of two families, each with a child suffering from infantile psychosis.