On emerging from autism and into the terror of relationships

Abstract

Aspects are outlined of the psychotherapy of two adolescents who were starting to emerge from a previous state of chronic (though high-functioning) autism. A central theme is the difficulty these adolescents had in tolerating the separateness of others (and thus the possibility that others could be lost) and at the same time being unable to remain content with a state of autistic adhesive unity with the other. This contribution is an attempt to build on the work of a number of highly creative psychoanalytic pioneers in the understanding of autistic children and adolescents and their application to these children of ideas involving symbiotic at-one-ness and fears of psychic separateness. The influences of Frances Tustin, Anne Alvarez, Thomas Ogden and Susan Reid are particularly key.

Keywords:

• Adhesive unity
• adolescence
• chuntering
• high-functioning autism
• loss
• mourning
• separation