Dr. Margaret Mahler was born in 1897 in Hungary and studied medicine at the University of Munich. She shifted her focus from pediatrics to psychiatry and was influenced by Sandor Ferenczi, a Hungarian psychoanalyst. Mahler moved to the US and joined the New York Psychoanalytic Society. She is known for her work on childhood psychosis and developing the theory of separation-individuation, which describes the phases an infant progresses through to develop a sense of self and independence from the mother.

1. Dr.MURUGAVEL.V

3.  Born on may 10,1897 into a jewish family in Sopron
in Hungary
 Had troubled relationship with her mother
 Studied medicine fron University of Munich
 Influenced by Sandor ferenczi , a hungarian
psychoanalyst
 Shifted majors from pediatrics to psychiatry
 Moved to USA,there joined Newyork psychoanalytic
society
 Worked on cases of childhood psychosis

4. 1. Normal autistic phase
2. Normal symbiotic phase
3. Separation–individuation phase
 Hatching
 Practising
 Rapproachment
4. Phase of object constancy

8. HATCHING
 The infant starts
noticing that him/her
and the mother, are
not the same.
 "Rupture of the
shell".
 Increased alertness
and interest for the
outside world. Using
the mother as a point
of orientation.

9. PRACTISING
 About 9-16 months,
infant's acquires the
ability to crawl and then
walk freely
 He/she begins to
explore actively and
becomes more distant
from the mother.
 The child experiences
himself still as one with
his mother.

10. This phase is further divided into sub phases
 The Beginning
 Crisis and
 Solution.

11. Praised Punished

12. In this phase,the split maternal image is now
consolidated into a stable intrapsychic
representation that is comforting the child in
the mother’s abscence

14.  The names given to various stages
especially autistic and symbiotic stages
 The beginning phases didn’t have
observational and behavioural data
 Growth in infant research reveals evidence
of infant’s awareness of their environment
and their ability to respond to external
stimuli

15.  On human symbiosis and the vicissitudes of
individuation, 1969.
 The psychological birth of the human infant
symbiosis and individuation, 1975.
 Infantile psychosis and early contributions
 Rapprochement critical subphase in separation
individuation
 Separation individuation