Concept
Practicing subphase
The second subphase of separation-individuation in Mahler's scheme, from about ten or twelve months to sixteen or eighteen. Crawling and then walking upright let the child move away from the mother and come back, using her as a home base for 'emotional refuelling'. Absorbed in and elated by its new powers, the child seems for a time fairly untroubled by her comings and goings, and meets the world with what Mahler called a love affair.
Read more- Broader concept
- Separation-individuation
- Introduced by
- Margaret Mahler
- Key works
- 2
introduced by
- Margaret Mahler The second subphase, from about ten to eighteen months. Newly mobile, the toddler explores away from the mother in what Mahler called a love affair with the world, returning to her to refuel emotionally.