Abstract

RIBEIRO, Anna  and  CAROPRESO, Fatima. Psychoanalytical research with infants and young children: what Margaret Mahler left us as model. Mental [online]. 2018, vol.12, n.22, pp. 18-34. ISSN 1679-4427.

Margaret Mahler formulated a rich theory on child development based on the psychoanalytic, psychiatric and pediatric hypotheses available in her time, and on her own research as well. It can be said that one of her main contributions was the development of strategies of research making it possible to integrate clinical data with the results of other empirical methods, thus making the traditional psychoanalytic method more productive. This paper aims at presenting the psychoanalytic research conducted by Mahler and her collaborators, emphasizing, first of all, her research methods. It is argued that these methods provide a relevant model for research in child psychoanalysis that deserves more attention in the field.

Keywords : psychoanalysis; mental development; psychosis; investigative techniques.

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