MARGARET MAHLER: BIOGRAPHY, THEORY AND WORKS - PSYCHOLOGY - 2025

Margaret Mahler (May 10, 1897 - October 2, 1985) was an important Hungarian physician who specialized in the field of child psychiatry. Her interest was mainly in psychoanalysis and its application to the understanding of normal child development. However, during her professional career she spent a lot of time working with children with developmental problems.

Margaret Mahler's research led her to become interested in the concept of the self. From her work in this field, she developed the theory of separation - Philharuation, which over time became her best known contribution. In addition, she also described the concept of constancy of the object.

Margaret Mahler

Due to her Jewish origin and her bad relationship with her family, Margaret Mahler's childhood was very complicated. As a child she was rejected by her mother, which marked her to a great extent in her adult life; and later, with the rise of the Nazis to power in Europe, she had to leave her native country and take refuge in the United States for the rest of her life.

However, despite the difficult experiences she suffered as a child, Margaret Mahler was able to transform them into something positive, because they helped her better understand the process of psychological development that must occur in children so that they can mature correctly and become in healthy adults. Today, her contributions are still very important in the field of psychology.

Early years and training

Margaret Mahler was born into a Jewish family in Hungary on May 10, 1897. From the beginning of her life she suffered from a great deal of personal problems, being rejected by her own mother when she was still just a child. Because of this, she became interested in psychology from a young age.

During his adolescence he met Sandor Ferenczi, a Hungarian physician and psychoanalyst who ended up awakening his interest in psychoanalysis. In large part due to her conversations with this important author, she decided to enroll in medicine at the University of Budapest in 1917. There she remained for several years until she moved to Germany to study pediatrics at the University of Jena.

After graduating in 1922, Margaret Mahler moved to Vienna and settled there. Once in this city, she began to receive training in psychoanalysis in 1926. After several years training in this field, especially in therapy with children, this therapist was certified as an analyst in 1933.

Flight from the Nazi regime

Once she graduated as a psychoanalyst, Margaret Mahler married Paul Mahler in 1936, and they both continued to live in Vienna for a short time. However, with the rise of the Nazis to power, both had to flee the country to lands not affected by the regime.

Thus, at first the couple moved to the United Kingdom. Later, however, they moved again and settled in the United States in 1938, specifically in New York. There, Margaret opened her own clinic and worked hand in hand with experts like Dr. Benjamin Spock.

In addition to this, Margaret Mahler began teaching child therapy, and became part of groups such as the New York Psychoanalytic Society and the Institute for Human Development. At the same time, she also began to do more and more research on children's mental health and children's psychology development.

Because of her significant contributions to the field of child psychology, Mahler was offered a position as a professor of psychiatry by Columbia University, where she taught from 1941 to 1955. Afterwards, she transferred to Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where she remained. until 1974.

Work and recognition

Mahler with a baby

Margaret Mahler's studies focused primarily on working with children with special needs, although her interest also encompassed the development of those who did not have any problems. In this sense, she investigated, among other things, the effects of the children's relationship with their parents on the appearance of psychiatric illnesses.

One of the fields in which Mahler specialized the most was the treatment of psychotic children, becoming one of the pioneers in this area. Her work in this regard led her to write the book The Psychological Birth of the Human Child: Symbiosis and Individuation.

In addition to this, Margaret Mahler was a co-founder of the Teacher Center for Children in New York along with her partner Manuel Furer. During her years as a teacher, she used this center as a platform to develop and teach a tripartite model of treatment, in which she worked with both children and their mothers to treat mental illness.

Throughout her career, Mahler became one of the most important researchers of her time in the field of psychiatry, especially child psychiatry. Among the awards she received is the Barnard Medal of Distinction, which was awarded in 1980. This psychoanalyst died in 1985 in New York, when she was 88 years old.

Mahler theory

Margaret Mahler conducted a multitude of different investigations within the field of psychology throughout her extensive career. However, possibly her most important contribution was her theory ofuation and separation, which she used in most of her psychiatric interventions with children.

One of the most important concepts in Mahler's theory was the idea that children exist in a kind of symbiotic state until they reach six months of age. Throughout this first phase, the children are not aware of their environment or themselves, and only understand their existence based on their relationship with their mother.

After six months, however, what Mahler called the "process of separation and individuation" begins. At this time, the child begins to perceive himself as a person independent from his mother, in such a way that cognitive structures such as identity and ego begin to form.

During this phase the child also begins to develop his psychological skills and learn to communicate with others. On the other hand, this process would always develop in the same way, through several stages easily distinguishable from each other.

1- normal autistic phase

The first phase described in Mahler's work is what she described as "normal autistic." It occurs during the first weeks of life, and in it the child has hardly any social interactions with the people around her, even if others initiate it.

Although his theory is generally studied including this phase, the truth is that Mahler ended up discarding it later.

2- Normal symbiotic phase

The second phase of child development described by Margaret Mahler goes up to the first six months of the child's life. During it, the little one begins to have some awareness of his surroundings through the relationship with his mother or main caregiver. However, in it he is not yet aware that he is an individual separate from himself.

3- Separation phase - individuation

From the sixth month of life, the child begins to develop his sense of "I", which begins to separate from the identity of his mother. At first, the little one is only aware that he is a different person from his caregiver; but later, with the acquisition of greater autonomy, he is able to explore his environment independently.

Throughout this phase, what is known as "separation anxiety" may appear, a process that occurs because the child begins to feel fear for not being able to return to maintain a close relationship with his mother.

For Mahler, the nature of the relationship of children with their mothers from this point on and up to adolescence will largely shape the psychological development of the individual. Thus, the author argued that those who have a very negative image of their mothers often suffer from psychological disorders of all kinds, including psychotic disorder.

Constancy of the object

The constancy of the object, similar to Piaget's idea of ​​the permanence of the object, is a term used to define the phase in which the child realizes that he is an individual separated from his mother, and that by therefore it has its own identity.

During the process of object constancy, the child undergoes what is known as internalization: the formation of an internal representation of the mother by the child. Differences in the internalized image can be used to explain the appearance of some mental disorders of greater or lesser severity.

Plays

Margaret Mahler researched a multitude of different fields, and published several works that are still relevant today. Among the most important are the following:

- On human symbiosis and the vicissitudes of individuation (1969).

References

1. "Margaret Mahler" in: Famous Psychologists. Retrieved on: January 07, 2020 from Famous Psychologists: famouspsychologists.org.
2. "Margaret Mahler (1897-1985)" in: Good Therapy. Retrieved on: January 07, 2020 from Good Therapy: goodtherapy.org.
3. "Margaret Mahler" in: Psychology's Feminist Voices. Retrieved on: January 07, 2020 from Psychology's Feminist Voices: feministvoices.com.
4. "Margaret Mahler" in: New World Encyclopedia. Retrieved on: January 07, 2020 from New World Encyclopedia: newworldencyclopedia.org.
5. "Margaret Mahler" in: Wikipedia. Retrieved: January 07, 2020 from Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org.