ABSTRACT
Margaret Mahler was born in Sopron, Hungary, she emigrated to New York in 1938, where she spend the rest of her of life. She died in New York City at eighty-eight years old. Margaret Mahler believed that the reason she became interested in paediatrics and psychoanalysis was because of her mother’s rejection. She grew up unhappy, with low self-esteem, and deeply jealous of her sister. Her father was very supportive and encouraged her to excel in her intellectual growth. Mahler was very interested in mother–infant duality, and together with Fred Pine and Anni Bergman, carefully documented the impact of early separations of children from their mothers. This process, named separation–individuation, is divided into subphases, each with its own onset, outcomes, and risks. There is a considerable overlap as well. Disruptions in the process of separation–individuation can result in a disturbance in the ability to maintain a reliable sense of individual identity in adulthood.
