THE CONCEPT OF «SEPARATION – INDIVIDUATION» BY MARGARET MAHLER AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE FOR PSYCHOANALYTIC PEDAGOGY

Abstract

The article explains Margaret Mahler’s psychoanalytic concept of early child development, which is of fundamental importance for pedagogy in general and for psychoanalytic pedagogy in particular in the context of the theory of normal and abnormal development of children. M. Mahler studied the emotional ties between the baby and the mother and considered the relationship in the «mother-child» dyad as a dynamic unity of opposite tendencies – the child’s need for attachment to the mother, on the one hand, and the child’s desire for his own autonomy through establishing clear boundaries of one’s «Ego»/«Self» in this relationship – on the other. The quality of the existing relationship between a mother and a child determines the success of the integration of these conflicting tendencies and shapes the child’s ability to independence and autonomy. A stable object relationship between a mother and a child is considered as a resource support for the child and a reliable basis for his further development. This interactive process, which contributes to overcoming the internal conflict of multidirectional development trends, was called the process of «separation – individuation». The stages, phases, and subphases of this process are analyzed in detail, namely: the first stage, the phase of «normal autism» and the phase of «normal symbiosis»; the second stage: the differentiation subphase, or «hatching», the practice subphase, or «omnipotence», the rapprochement subphase, or «reunion», the object’s permanence (constancy) formation subphase. It is shown that children who have a positive experience of early object relations want and can establish and maintain relations with loved ones, peers, and adults, demonstrating their socio-psychological adaptation. The negative experience of relations in the «motherchild » dyad leads to serious violations of object relations in adulthood and increases the risk of personal psychopathology.