Concept of Synchronized Individuation Based on the Characters in a Movie and a Fairy Tale

OBJECTIVES: Among adolescent development tasks, being independent of parents is an essential process for emotional and physical separation. There are many conflicts of separation and individuation between parents and adolescents; however, most clinicians explore the process of separation and individuation only from adolescents’ perspective. Whether simultaneously or sequentially, separation-individuation occurs between adolescents and parents, respectively. The authors have already introduced the theory of synchronized individuation in a clinical case to explain the concept of this intersubjective phenomena. This study also attempts to prove the synchronized individuation theory through the interaction of characters in a movie and a fairy tale. METHODS: The authors present the basis for the theory of synchronized individuation of adolescence through the growing process of Mason Junior, the main character of the movie “Boyhood,” and from the process of the separation of a hen, Sprout, and an orphaned duckling in “The hen who dreamed she could fly.” RESULTS: Synchronized individuation was developed and observed from Mason, the son’s perspective in “Boyhood,” and Sprout, the mother’s subjective perspective in the story of the hen. CONCLUSION: Increasing conflict and mutual impact in the relationship between adolescents and parents, ambivalent feelings for separation, selective identification of each other, mutual respect through mutual recognition, and role changes in relationship position were confirmed. Sons and mothers were individualized with synchronization.