Margaret Mahler

Margaret Schönberger Mahler (May 10, 1897 – October 2, 1985) was a Hungarian physician, who later became interested and proficient in psychiatry. She was a central figure on the world stage of psychoanalysis. Although her main interest was in normal child development, but she spent much of her time with psychiatric children and how they arrive at the "self." Mahler is best known for having developed the Separation-Individuation theory of child development, as well as the concept of object constancy.

Margaret had a difficult childhood because of her own parents' troubled marriage, but found hope as her father encouraged her to pursue the sciences.

Life

Margaret was born on May 10, 1897, to Gustav Schonberger and Eugenia Weiner-Schonberger, a Jewish family in Sopron, a small town Hungary, near Vienna. She and a younger sister had a difficult childhood as a result of their parents' troubled marriage. Margaret's father, the Chief Public Health Official for their district, encouraged her to excel in 0mathematics and other sciences. After completing the High School for Daughters, she attended Vaci 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. She met the influential Hungarian psychoanalyst Sándor Ferenczi, became fascinated by the concept of the unconscious, and was encouraged to read Sigmund Freud.

In September 1916, Margaret began Art History studies at the University of Budapest, but in January 1917, she switched to Medical School. Three semesters later, she began medical training at the University of Munich, but was forced to leave because of German antisemitism. In the spring of 1920, she transferred to the University of Jena and it was there that she began to realize how important play and love were for growing infants, both mentally and physically. Margaret graduated cum laude in 1922. She left for Vienna, to get her license to practice medicine. There, she turned from pediatrics to psychiatry and, in 1926, started her training analysis with Helene Deutsch. Seven years later, Margaret was accepted as an analyst. Schönberger loved working with children—it was her passion. She loved the way the children gave her their attention and showed their joy in cooperating with her.

In 1921, she began having severe stomach pains and would have attacks that horrified her circle of friend's. She was diagnosed with Heirshsprung disease, a congenital disorder of the colon rectum which causes it to be unable to relax and permit the passage of stool. Her doctors told her she needed to have a partial colonectomy—at the time, major surgery. During the surgery, however, the doctors discovered she needed to have severe adhesions removed rather than any of her colon. After the procedure, the problem ended.

In 1926, she began analysis training with Helene Deutsch. Deutsch was completely against the idea, but with encouragement from Ferenczi, she accepted. After 14 months of constant cancellations Deutsch said that she was unanalyzable. Deutsch insisted the only way her training could continue was if she was paid. It wasn't until 1933, seven years later, that Margaret was finally accepted as an analyst. However, the same year brought grief, when her long time friend and inspiration, Ferenczi, passed away.

Margaret was very active in her field, attending seminars, mixing in circles with Anna Freud, and publishing papers in Journal of Psychoanalytic Pedagogy. It was at one of the seminars, however, that she met Paul Mahler, a chemist with a Ph.D. and a junior partner of Viennese Cordial Factory (a family business that eventually went under). Margaret felt superior to Paul, often feeling that he needed to be taken care of or was very needy, and in that way, they came to be, for Margaret, a perfect match. They married in 1936.

Following the Nazis' rise to power, the couple moved to Britain and then, in 1938, to the United States. Although the transition was difficult, as they had little in the way of money and they spoke even less English, after receiving a New York medical license, Mahler set up private practice in a basement and began to rebuild her clientèle. In 1939, she met Benjamin 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 the New York Psychoanalytic Society. In 1948, she worked on clinical studies on Benign and Malignant Cases of Childhood Psychosis.

In 1969, Mahler was awarded the APA Agnes Purceil McGavin Award. Barnard College, at its 1980 commencement ceremonies, awarded Mahler its highest honor, the Barnard Medal of Distinction. In 1981, she eared the Distinguished Service Award.

Schönberger Mahler died on October 2, 1985. Her and Paul's ashes were buried beside her father's grave in the Jewish Cemetery in Sopron on August 1, 1986.

Work

Although her main area of interest was normal child development, Margaret Mahler worked as a psychoanalyst with young disturbed children. In 1950, she and Manuel Furer founded the Masters Children’s Centre, in Manhattan. There she developed the Tripartite Treatment Model, in which the mother participated in the treatment of the child. 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 of early separations of children from their mothers. This documentation of separation-individuation was her most important contribution to the development of psychoanalysis. Mahler shed light on the normal and abnormal features of the developmental ego psychology. She worked with psychotic children, while psychosis hadn’t been covered in the psychoanalytic treatment yet. Symbiotic child psychosis struck her. She saw the symptomatology as a derailment of the normal processes whereby self and object representations become distinct. Her most important work was The Psychological Birth of the Human Infant: Symbiosis and Individuation, written in 1975, with Fred Pine and Anni Bergman.

Separation-Individuation Theory of child development

Perhaps her most important contribution to child psychology, the Separation-Individuation Theory of child development stresses the importance of consistent attentiveness and affection, especially from the mother or primary care-giver, during a child's first three years of life, as vital to the ultimate goal of raising successful, adaptable children.

Mahler's theory breaks down the early development of a child into the following phases:

• Normal Autistic Phase—Takes place during the first few weeks of life. The infant is detached and self absorbed, spending most of its time sleeping. In order to encourage a healthy childhood, the mother or father needs to be available to lovingly meet the baby's needs and introduce tender, caring interaction. Mahler later abandoned this phase, based on new findings from her infant research.

• Normal Symbiotic Phase—Lasts from the first month to about 5 months of age. The child becomes aware of its mother but there is no a sense of individuality. To the infant, it is one with the mother, and there is a barrier between them and the rest of the world. Positive stimuli (such as cuddling, smiling, and engaged attention) as well as relief of discomfort (prompt feeding, changing of soiled diapers, providing an appropriate sleep environment) all help the infant to develop a trust that their needs will be met, building a basis for security and confidence.

• Mahler described the third phase as the Separation-Individuation Phase, and it marks the end of the Normal Symbiotic Phase. During this new phase, the child develops limits and the differentiation between the infant and mother (separation), later developing a sense of self (individuation). There are four sub-phases in the Separation-Individuation Phase:

1. Differentiation (5 to 10 months)—The infant ceases to be ignorant of the differentiation between itself and the caregiver. It shows a greater interest in the outside world and shows the first signs of separation anxiety. Infants feel most comfortable exploring from within the safe confines of its mother's or father's arms.
2. Practicing (10 to 16 months)—Brought about by the infant's ability to crawl and then walk freely, the infant begins to explore actively, becoming more distant from the mother—although only briefly, returning often to receive extra support and comfort. Babies will often want to keep the caregiver within eyesight.
3. Rapprochement (16 to 24 months)—Mahler referred to this as "ambitendency" and explained that this behavior is representative of a toddler's sometimes opposing desires and needs. It is during these months that children first get a real sense that they are individuals, separate from their caregiver—which is both an exciting and frightening discovery. Mahler noticed that toddlers became slightly more "low key" when their caregiver was not around; but when they felt comfortable, they felt free to explore the world by imitating adults and desiring toys and objects that others have (sometimes taking them by force).
4. Consolidation and object constancy (24 to 36 months)—The child gets more comfortable leaving its caregiver, allowing for the ego of the caregiver and the child to go their separate ways.

Object constancy

The phase when the child understands that the caregiver has a separate identity and is truly a separate individual. This, then, leads to the realization on the part of the child that it, too, has its own unique identity—the formation of ego. Object constancy is usually defined by the child's ability to see and relate to another person in his or her own right, part of making a direct, personal contact.

This leads to the formation of Internalization, which provides the child with an image that helps supply them with an unconscious level of guiding support and comfort from their mothers. Deficiencies in positive Internalization could possibly lead to a sense of insecurity and low self esteem issues in adulthood.

Honors

APA Agnes Purceil McGavin Award (1969) Distinguished Service Award (1981)

Major works

• On Human Symbiosis and the Vicissitudes of Individuation, 1969
• The Psychological Birth of the Human Infant: Symbiosis and Individuation, 1975
• Memoirs of Margaret Mahler
• Infantile Psychosis and Early Contributions Vol. 1
• Separation-Individuation Vol. 2
• On Human Symbioss and the Vicissitudes of Individuation Roll Infantile Psychosis
• "Psychoanalytic Evaluation of Tics"
• "Infantile Process"
• "Autism and Symbiosis, Two Extreme Disturbances of Identity"

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Coates, S.W. John Bowlby and Margaret S. Mahler: Their Lives and Theories. Retrieved June 30, 2008.
• Mitchell, S.A., and Black, M.J. 1995. Freud and Beyond. New York: Basic Books.
• Schur, Max (ed.). Notes on the development of basic moods: The depressive affect. In Drives, Affects, Behavior. New York: International Universities Press.
• Mahler, S., M.M. Pine, and A.F. Bergman. 1973. The Psychological Birth of the Human Infant. New York: Basic Books.

External links

• Margaret Mahler Psychiatric Research Foundation. Retrieved June 30, 2008.

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