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Vol. 41 No. 1 (2021)
Revista Portuguesa de Psicanálise

Artigo Convidado - Teoria e Epistemologia

From Ashes to Ashes: The Heroic Struggle of an Autistic Boy Trying to be Born and Stay Alive

https://doi.org/10.51356/rpp.411a1

Published 2021-06-30

  • Lawrence J. Brown

Lawrence J. Brown
Boston Psychoanalytic Institute (BPSI)

Abstract

This paper investigates the concept of psychogenic autism that has been proposed by Frances Tustin. Her work centers on the dynamics of this serious illness with an emphasis on the infant’s experiences in the earliest connection with the mother. Tustin writes that the sudden and violent disruption of the skin-to-skin maternal/infant contact gives rise to pathological attempts to heal this separation; namely, through the infant’s shutting out contact with the external emotional world. An extensive clinical vignette is offered to illustrate how these dynamics are manifest clinically and the author’s efforts to establish a meaningful connection with a young patient. Transference and countertransference reactions are discussed in detail.

Keywords

Psychogenic autism, Frances Tustin, Earliest mother/infant contact, Transference, Countertransference

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Author Biography

Lawrence J. Brown

Full member of the Boston Psychoanalytic Institute (BPSI) in Psychoanalysis of Children and Adults, supervising child analyst. Faculty member at BPSI and the Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis. Member of the Editorial Board of The Psychoanalytic Quarterly and founding member of the Boston Group for Psychoanalytic Studies.

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