The Board of Trustees of the American Psychiatric Association presented the Association's Distinguished Service Award for 1981 to Margaret Mahler, M.D. at the Convocation Ceremony of the Annual Meeting in New Orleans on May 11, 1981. The award was given in recognition of her extensive contribution to the field of psychiatry over a period of many years. Especially cited was her pioneering research on childhood psychoses, which led to her famed developmental theory of separation-individuation.
Such recognition of a psychoanalyst by organized psychiatry is a signal honor, one in a long series of kudos for Dr. Mahler, a Life Member of the Association. She holds numerous honorary degrees, her books have been translated into several languages, and she has already received the highest honors from her psychoanalytic colleagues.