ABSTRACT
The developmental conflict identified in the previous chapter is again the topic of this chapter, although here Brandchaft illustrates it with an entirely different clinical presentation reflecting a very different attempt at resolution. When the child is unable to harmonize the pursuit of individualized selfhood with the maintenance of a vitally needed tie, the child may defiantly maintain a loyalty to his perceptions and affects at the expense of relational ties. Although at first glance the dyadic conflict may seem to correspond to the familiar territory of separation-individuation, Brandchaft delineates his view of the developmental process underlying the conflict from the wellknown separation-individuation paradigm of Margaret Mahler (Mahler, Pine, & Bergman, 1975) in two important ways.
