On not being able to enter Noah's Ark

Abstract

The paper describes the psychoanalytic psychotherapy of a patient who had originally been referred at the age of 15 because of his social isolation. In fact, he suffered from high-functioning Asperger's syndrome and lived in an almost delusional world populated by a number of imaginary companions, which he used to counteract a deep void and sense of deadliness within him. After five years of therapy, the patient was able to move on, allowing him to be successful in his academic studies, and to abandon his imaginary friends. This paper focuses on a subsequent phase of the therapy when the patient, as a young man, began to show an interest in and attraction to the world of intimate relationships. The paper is grounded in Meltzerian theory, especially his ideas about the role of beauty in the mother–child relationship, and about the world of intimate links as opposed to conventional ones.

Keywords:

• psychoanalytic psychotherapy
• high-functioning Asperger's syndrome
• conventional versus intimate relationships
• Meltzerian theory
• beauty

Notes

1. ‘Autan’ is a well-known brand of insect repellent in Italy.

2. ‘Il dolce stil nuovo’ refers to a current of medieval Italian poetry, which focuses on idealised love (‘e quivi ragionar sempre d'amor’ – ‘and here they incessantly talked of love’).