title: Martin Mayman's early memories technique: bridging the gap between personality assessment and psychotherapy.
abstract: In this article, we describe Martin Mayman's approach to early childhood memories as a projective technique, beginning with his scientific interest in learning theory, coupled with his interest in ego psychology and object relations theory. We describe Mayman's contributions to the use of the early memories technique to inform the psychotherapy process, tying assessment closely to psychotherapy and making assessment more useful in treatment. In this article, we describe a representative sample of research studies that demonstrate the reliability and validity of early memories, followed by case examples in which the early memories informed the therapy process, including issues of transference and countertransference.
authors.affiliation: Erik H. Erikson Institute for Training and Research, Austen Riggs Center, USA.
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Fowler
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Hilsenroth
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Handler
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory; D008875:Middle Aged; D010552:Personality Assessment; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D011386:Projective Techniques; D011582:Psychological Theory; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results