AUTISM, SYMBIOSIS, AUTISTIC-CONTIGUOUS SPACE IN PSYCHODYNAMIC PERSONALITY THEORY

Abstract

Abstract. The paper discusses the role of normal early stages of child development in determining the trajectory of future development throughout life. Referring to the works of Margaret Mahler, which describe the early stages of normal autism and symbiosis, helps to understand that the consequences of the processes from these stages remain the basis for further human development. If primary autism transforms into self or selfhood, then the experience of symbiotic relationships allows us to build a communicative, social self, which in turn makes it possible to identify oneself in the external reality. At the same time, in practice, we witness a significant crisis in the interaction of the autistic self with the “social surface of the self”. For example, we have observed this in the increasing frequency of primary autism in children’s transition to secondary autism, which becomes a severe developmental disorder. We also observe difficulties in integrating self into social life in adults, which is accompanied by states of isolation that are essentially autistic. These problems have made the work of Frances Tustin, who has done a great deal of work on autism in children and adults, particularly important. Another cornerstone in the work on the topic is the research of Thomas Ogden, who described the autisticcontiguous position as a way of interaction between the autistic and symbiotic parts of the psyche. In the present article, through three of my own clinical illustrations, I also sought to show the clinical application of these developments and concepts in direct psychoanalytic psychotherapeutic work.