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 Margaret Mahler |
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Margaret Mahler's Research ApproachFrom 1940 and through the 1960s, Dr. Mahler focused her energy and expertise as a pediatrician, psychiatrist, and psychoanalyst on one question:
Mahler and her colleagues sought to answer these questions through a methodology based on detailed observations of mother-child pairs in normal interactions. Combining these observations with interviews and home visits over time, they documented the process of separation-individuation through which children "hatched" from the cocoon of symbiosis with the mother and became aware of themselves as participants in the world around them. Over the years, Mahler's research provided the opportunity to observe how the developmental process proceeds from childhood through adolescence and adulthood. Their work is adding new insights into the implications of one's earliest chiildhood relationships on the ability to successfully navigate life's many challenges. As Mahler documents and other researchers corroborate (see Resources
section), the separation-individuation process is not always smooth. Neither
does it end in childhood. Rather, the implications of separation-individuation
reverberate throughout an individual's life cycle. Understanding how these
effects are manfiested over the course of life can enhance the effectiveness
of parenting and childcare skills, and facilitate the therapeutic process.
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