TY - JOUR
T1 - Reapproaching Mahler
T2 - New Perspectives On Normal Autism, Symbiosis, Splitting and Libidinal Object Constancy From Cognitive Developmental Theory
AU - Gergely, György
PY - 2000/12
Y1 - 2000/12
N2 - Margaret Mahler's seminal work on the psychological birth of the infant has generated more critical discussion than most other psychoanalytic theories of early development. But while the empirically, theoretically, and methodologically based criticisms of Mahler's theory are generally justified, her critics fail at times to consider some of the intriguing and creative insights that her theoretical formulations tried to capture. This paper attempts to reformulate these insights using the new conceptual tools that current cognitive developmental theory provides. Mahler's stage of normal autism is reconsidered in the light of contingency detection theory as an initial phase of primary preoccupation with self-generated perfectly response-contingent stimulation. Her concept of normal symbiosis is recast with the help of attachment theory's views on homeostatic regulation and the social biofeedback model of affect-reflective mirroring interactions with parents. Finally, her ideas about the development of splitting and libidinal object constancy are reconsidered according to recent theories of early representational development and mentalization.
AB - Margaret Mahler's seminal work on the psychological birth of the infant has generated more critical discussion than most other psychoanalytic theories of early development. But while the empirically, theoretically, and methodologically based criticisms of Mahler's theory are generally justified, her critics fail at times to consider some of the intriguing and creative insights that her theoretical formulations tried to capture. This paper attempts to reformulate these insights using the new conceptual tools that current cognitive developmental theory provides. Mahler's stage of normal autism is reconsidered in the light of contingency detection theory as an initial phase of primary preoccupation with self-generated perfectly response-contingent stimulation. Her concept of normal symbiosis is recast with the help of attachment theory's views on homeostatic regulation and the social biofeedback model of affect-reflective mirroring interactions with parents. Finally, her ideas about the development of splitting and libidinal object constancy are reconsidered according to recent theories of early representational development and mentalization.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0034576589&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/00030651000480040801
DO - 10.1177/00030651000480040801
M3 - Article
C2 - 11212188
AN - SCOPUS:0034576589
SN - 0003-0651
VL - 48
SP - 1197
EP - 1228
JO - Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association
JF - Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association
IS - 4
ER -