Autistic States in ChildrenFrances Tustin (1913-1994) was one of the first professionally trained child psychotherapists in Britain. Although internationally recognised for her pioneering therapeutic work with autistic children, her approach is considered by some to be controversial, as her psychogenic view of childhood autism challenged the belief that it is biological and genetic. Autistic States in Children is widely regarded as a vitally important work for understanding the causes of autism in young children. Vividly describing her clinical encounters with autistic children, Tustin argued that autistic states were above all self-protective ones. In her observational studies, she noted how autistic children's interaction with physical objects, such as keys, toy cars, or other play items, had a rigid and ritualistic quality, far removed from the typical kind of fantasy play seen in other children. Such objects are not used by autistic children for their intended purpose, Tustin argued, but rather in sensation-dominated ways that interfere with mental development. She also drew a fundamental distinction between two autistic groups: an ‘encapsulated’ group, which is withdrawn and non-verbal, and an ‘entangled’ group, who are hyperactive and chaotic but have some language. Autistic States in Children influenced not only those in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis but countless others who have contact with autistic children, especially families, and remains essential reading for anyone seeking a creative and compelling understanding of autism. This Routledge Classics edition includes a new Foreword by Maria Rhode. |
From inside the book
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... infant interaction by such people as Daniel Stern (1985). She was always open to findings from other fields, and often said that working with autistic states had the integrating and beneficial effect of bringing together very different ...
... Infant. New York: Basic Books. Tustin, F. (1966) 'A significant element in the development of autism: a psycho-analytic approach' Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 7: 53–67. Tustin, F. (1972) Autism and Childhood Psychosis ...
... infancy when the normal infant is totally unaware of being separate from the mother's body, is incorrect in view of the objective findings of those infant observers who have just been cited. It also seems to me to be similarly untenable ...
... infant means that normal primary relations between mother and infant are prevented. Also, the abnormal 'hot-house' state of fusion with the mother is very enervating. The autism increases this weakness still further, because the infants ...
... infants who have been unduly close to the mother, it is agonisingly intense. This is the crux of our work with autistic children. To be able to help them, we need to have worked through our own omnipotent romanticism and our all-or ...
Contents
Autosensuous aspects of psychogenic childhood psychosis | |
Autogenerated encapsulation | |
Autistic objects | |
Confusional objects | |
The asymbolic nature of autosensuous states | |
Awareness in autistic states | |
Psychotherapy with autistic states in children | |
Transference phenomena in autistic states | |
16 | |
Thinkings | |
Confusional entanglement | |
Autosensuousness as a basis for classification of psychogenic childhood psychosis | |
Psychodynamics and treatment of autistic states | |
The pathological operation of autosensuousness | |
Psychological birth and psychological catastrophe | |
The struggles of an autistic child to develop a mind of his | |
Autistic elements in neurotic disorders of childhood | |
Concluding remarks | |
Index | |