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The Psychological Birth of the Human Infant: Symbiosis and Individuation book cover

1st Edition

The Psychological Birth of the Human Infant Symbiosis and Individuation

By Margaret S. Mahler Copyright 1975
    320 Pages
    by Routledge

    320 Pages
    by Routledge

    'The biological birth of the human infant and the psychological birth of the individual are not coincident in time. The former is a dramatic, observable, and well-circumscribed event; the latter a slowly unfolding intra psychic process.'Thus begins this highly acclaimed book in which the author and her collaborators break new ground in developmental psychology and present the first complete theoretical statement of the author's observations on the normal separation-individuation process. Separation and individuation are presented in this major work as two complementary developments. Separation is described as the child's emergence from a symbiotic fusion with the mother, while individuation consists of those achievements making the child's assumption of his own individual characteristics. Each of the sub-phases of separation-individuation is described in detail, supported by a wealth of clinical observations which trace the tasks confronting the infant and his mother as he progresses towards achieving his own individuality.

    Titles of Related Interest -- Introduction and Historical Review -- Separation-Individuation in Perspective -- Overview -- Evolution and Functioning of the Research Setting -- On Human Symbiosis and the Subphases of the Separation-Individuation Process -- Introduction -- The Forerunners of the Separation-Individuation Process -- The First Subphase: Differentiation and the Development of the Body Image -- The Second Subphase: Practicing -- The Third Subphase: Rapprochement -- The Fourth Subphase: Consolidation of Individuality and the Beginnings of Emotional Object Constancy -- Five Children's Subphase Development -- Introduction -- Bruce -- Donna -- Wendy -- Teddy -- Sam -- Summary and Reflections -- Variations Within the Subphases with Special Reference to Differentiation -- The Epigenesis of Separation Anxiety, Basic Mood, and Primitive Identity -- Reflections on Core Identity and Self-Boundary Formation -- Some Concluding Remarks about the Significance of the Rapprochement Crisis -- The Data Analysis and Its Rationale: A Case Study in Systematic Clinical Research -- The Available Data -- A Research Rationale -- Some Research Strategies

    Biography

    S. Mahler, Margaret

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