THE IMPLICATIONS OF SEPARATION-INDIVIDUATION THEORY FOR THE CONDUCT OF PSYCHOTHERAPY OF THE BORDERLINE LATENCY-AGE CHILD

Certain specific interventions were evolved in the psychotherapy of three latency-age borderline children through the application of Margaret Mahler's theory of separation-individuation. These interventions are here categorized into three modes, including spatial structuring of the therapeutic setting, dramatic intensification of illusory subphase experiences, and symbolic concretization of the child's wish or mental representation. The modes of intervention are described in Chapter I. Chapter II contains an explication of Mahler's normative theory of separation-individuation, with a description of the subphases. Chapter III includes a diagnostic description of the borderline child as one whose separation-individuation phase development has been problematic; the evolution of the "borderline" diagnosis is traced, and typical borderline "phenomena" according to Fred Pine are presented. In Chapter IV, considerations of child psychotherapy from the separation-individuation point of view are traced in Mahler's writings. Psychotherapy of the latency-age borderline child according to Mahlerian principles as conceptualized by this writer is described. The following chapters contain a discussion of the three modes of intervention, illustrated in clinical vignettes. The concluding chapter contains a summary statement and reflections on the use of metaphor in therapeutic communication with borderline children.