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referred to Winnicott’s (1960) concept of the “ordinary devoted mother” (Mahler 1961; Mahler & Furer, 1968). In this way she equated the child’s early environment with the specific person of the mother. In summary, Separation-Individuation theory includes the real mother and infant, as well as the concepts of internalization, and internal representation. Mahler’s theory correlates analytically informed observation with intrapsychic developmental transformations: “The intrapsychic changes can include a shift in ego boundaries, the differentiation of self and object representations, the cohesion or spitting of these representations and the achievement of self- object constancy. Both dyadic partners need to be considered” (Blum, 2004b, p 551). In the proposed contemporary modification and reformulation, Blum (2004b) integrates findings of later developmental research (Stern 1985; Pine, 1986; Bergman, 1999; Gergely, 2000; Fonagy, 2000). His modification involves the symbiotic phase as well as separation-individuation, with particular attention to differentiation and rapprochement. He stresses that the neonatal “differentiation precedes the emergence of intra-psychic self and object representation” (Blum, 2004b, p. 541) and that the infant is pre-adapted for “reciprocal communication, interaction and regulation that begins with initial nurturing and proceeds to a dialogue replete with feedback loops…” (p. 541). During rapprochement, the pivotal role of language is highlighted (Blum, 2003). Though currently marginalized by attachment and other object relations theories, Mahler’s concept of Separation-Individuation is an important contribution to the understanding of the pre-oedipal period of development. (See also entry EGO PSYCHOLOGY) V. Ac. Erikson Erik Erikson’s (1950, 1956, 1968)’s contributions to the study of early object relations and their influences on the development of ego structures, too, comprises a bridge between Ego Psychology’s structural theory of the 1950’s and and the clinical study of the vicissitudes of object relations. Erikson has postulated the succession of introjection, identification, and ego identity, which has been followed up on in some of the influential strands of the present-day North American Object Relations School (Kernberg,1977), albeit not without modification. Erikson did not differentiate between the organizations of self and object representations. It was Jacobson (1964) who importantly clarified the differentiation between the self and object representations of early introjections and the development of these structures. V. Ad. Jacobson Like Mahler, Edith Jacobson (1964) was able to reconcile Freud’s emphasis on the constitutional with the developmentalists’ emphasis on the environment by proposing their mutually, ongoing influences on each other throughout development. She described the development of the ego and superego in tandem with self and object representations, placing a major emphasis on the role of affect. Her contributions were crucial in introducing the
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