{"title":"Sitting with invisible difference: Psychoanalytics and autism","authors":"Nardus Saayman, Clare Harvey, Tracy Davies Fletcher","doi":"10.1111/bjp.12956","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Psychoanalytic psychotherapy and autism have had a complicated relationship. Much of the complication has arisen from patients with autism being misunderstood by those who have used a psychoanalytic lens. These misunderstandings arose not for a lack of trying—but rather from a disavowal of how neurological difference shapes what it means to become a person, and how these differences affect treatment needs. It has been autistic patients who have had to bear the consequences of these misunderstandings in much the same way as they do in their daily lives outside of therapy. It is not the psychoanalytic lens that has failed these patients, but rather its use without reference to the ever-growing body of neurobiological knowledge. In this paper, we make the argument that many of the key psychoanalytic concepts—countertransference, the frame, narcissism, intellectualization and obsessions—need to be reviewed and altered when working with autistic patients.</p>","PeriodicalId":54130,"journal":{"name":"British Journal of Psychotherapy","volume":"41 2","pages":"255-272"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/bjp.12956","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"British Journal of Psychotherapy","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjp.12956","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"PSYCHIATRY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Psychoanalytic psychotherapy and autism have had a complicated relationship. Much of the complication has arisen from patients with autism being misunderstood by those who have used a psychoanalytic lens. These misunderstandings arose not for a lack of trying—but rather from a disavowal of how neurological difference shapes what it means to become a person, and how these differences affect treatment needs. It has been autistic patients who have had to bear the consequences of these misunderstandings in much the same way as they do in their daily lives outside of therapy. It is not the psychoanalytic lens that has failed these patients, but rather its use without reference to the ever-growing body of neurobiological knowledge. In this paper, we make the argument that many of the key psychoanalytic concepts—countertransference, the frame, narcissism, intellectualization and obsessions—need to be reviewed and altered when working with autistic patients.
期刊介绍：
The British Journal of Psychotherapy is a journal for psychoanalytic and Jungian-analytic thinkers, with a focus on both innovatory and everyday work on the unconscious in individual, group and institutional practice. As an analytic journal, it has long occupied a unique place in the field of psychotherapy journals with an Editorial Board drawn from a wide range of psychoanalytic, psychoanalytic psychotherapy, psychodynamic, and analytical psychology training organizations. As such, its psychoanalytic frame of reference is wide-ranging and includes all schools of analytic practice. Conscious that many clinicians do not work only in the consulting room, the Journal encourages dialogue between private practice and institutionally based practice. Recognizing that structures and dynamics in each environment differ, the Journal provides a forum for an exploration of their differing potentials and constraints. Mindful of significant change in the wider contemporary context for psychotherapy, and within a changing regulatory framework, the Journal seeks to represent current debate about this context.
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