Margaret Schönberger Mahler | |
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| Born | (1897-05-10)May 10, 1897 |
| Died | October 2, 1985(1985-10-02) (aged 88) New York City, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of Jena (Medicine,1922) |
| Known for | Separation–individuation theory of child development |
| Awards | APA Agnes Purceil McGavin Award |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Psychiatry,Psychoanalysis,Pediatrics |
| Institutions | Margaret S. Mahler Psychiatric Research Foundation |
| Part ofa series of articles on |
| Psychoanalysis |
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.jpeg) Sigmund Freud's couch |
Important figures |
Important works Core psychoanalytic texts
Influential works applying psychoanalysis
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Margaret Schönberger Mahler (May 10, 1897 inÖdenburg,Austria-Hungary; October 2, 1985 in New York) was anAustrian-Americanpsychiatrist,[1]psychoanalyst, andpediatrician. She did pioneering work in the field of infant and young child research. On the basis of empirical studies, she developed a development model that became particularly influential inpsychoanalysis andObject relations theory. Mahler developed theseparation–individuation theory of child development.
Born Margaret Schönberger on May 10, 1897, into a Jewish family inÖdenburg, a small town near Vienna to Gustav Schönberger, an Austrian physician and president of the Jewish community, one of the notables of Ödenburg, and Eugenia Schönberger, née Wiener.[2][1] She and a younger sister had a difficult childhood as a result of their parents' troubled marriage. Margaret's father, however, encouraged her to excel in mathematics and other sciences. After completing theHöhere Mädchenschule, she attendedVaci Utcai Gimnazium in Budapest, even though it was unusual at the time for a woman to continue formal education. Budapest was of great influence on her life and career.[3] She met the influential Hungarian psychoanalystSándor Ferenczi, became fascinated by the concept of theunconscious, and was encouraged to readSigmund Freud.[4]
In September 1916, she began Art History studies at the University of Budapest, but in January 1917 switched to the Medical School. Three semesters later she began medical training at the university of Munich, but was forced to leave because ofAntisemitism. In spring 1920 she transferred to the university ofJena and it was there that she began to realize how important play and love were for infants in order for them to grow up mentally and physically healthy. After graduatingcum laude in 1922, she left for Vienna in order to get her license to practice medicine. There she turned frompediatrics topsychiatry and, in 1926, started her traininganalysis withHelene Deutsch. Seven years later, she was accepted as ananalyst. Working with children became her passion. She loved the way the children gave her their attention and showed their joy in cooperating with her.
In 1936 she married Paul Mahler. Following the Nazis' rise to power, the couple moved to Britain and then, in 1938, to the United States. After receiving aNew York medical license, Margaret Mahler set up private practice in a basement and began to rebuild her clientele. She initially received a poor reception in New York, but found a welcoming analytic home in Philadelphia, invited to teach at thePhiladelphia Psychoanalytic Institute in 1950. She eventually travelled between New York and Philadelphia on the weekends and become the chair of the Philadelphia Institute's child division.[5][6] In 1939 she metBenjamin Spock and, after giving a child analysis seminar in 1940, she became senior teacher of child analysis. She joined the Institute of Human Development, the Educational Institute and theNew York Psychoanalytic Society. In 1948 she worked on clinical studies on Benign and Malignant Cases of ChildhoodPsychosis.
Barnard College, at its 1980 commencement ceremonies, awarded her its highest honor, theBarnard Medal of Distinction.
Schönberger Mahler died on October 2, 1985.
Margaret Mahler worked as apsychoanalyst with young children.
In 1950 she and Manuel Furer founded the Masters Children's Centre in Manhattan (it was connected with Mount Sinai hospital). There she developed the Tripartite Treatment Model, in which the mother participated in the treatment of the child.[4] Mahler initiated a more constructive exploration of severe disturbances in childhood and emphasized the importance of the environment on the child. She was especially interested in mother-infant duality and carefully documented the impact ofearly separations of children from their mothers. This documentation ofseparation-individuation was her most important contribution to the development of psychoanalysis.
Separation-individuation can be viewed as the psychological birth of an infant, which occurs over a period of time when the child separates from the mother and begins to individuate.
Mahler shed light on the normal and abnormal features of thedevelopmental ego psychology. She worked with psychotic children[citation needed], while psychosis hadn't been covered in thepsychoanalytic treatment yet.[7]
Symbiotic child psychosis struck her. The symptomatology she saw as a derailment of the normal processes wherebyself-representations (the representation of one's self) andobject-representations (the representation of a familiar person) become distinct.[4] Her most important work isThe Psychological Birth of the Human Infant: Symbiosis and Individuation, written in 1975 with Fred Pine and Anni Bergman.
In Mahler's theory,child development takes place in phases, each with several sub phases:
Disruptions in the fundamental process of separation–individuation can result in a disturbance in the ability to maintain a reliable sense of individual identity in adulthood.[7]
Object constancy, describes the phase when the child understands that the mother has a separate identity and is truly a separate individual. She is separate, but not in the way a toy is separate from him. She is a beloved person that he cathects to. The word "oblect" is a fine old British word that means, "a significant other that is important to us", i.e. mother or father. Object constancy enables a child to leave mother for a period of time without feeling separation anxiety. He can do this because he can keep mother as an internal object in his mind. This internalization supplies the child with an unconscious level of guiding support and comfort from their mothers.[8]
