Treating Autism Today : Lacanian Perspectives

Drawing together an international range of psychoanalytic practitioners, this collection provides a critique of mainstream models of autism, looking at the conceptual and ideological underpinnings of the behavioural and cognitive approaches popular today.

The first book to provide a psychoanalytic unpacking of standard non-analytic approaches, it offers a series of critical essays on mainstream assumptions, examining their history, foundations, and validity from a variety of angles. The authors consider, from the Lacanian perspective, the hypothesis of the biological-genetic causality of autism, as well as the claims of these approaches to offer effective therapy. These discussions are historically contextualised by an introduction and afterword that also provide pointers and references to further reading on Lacanian approaches to autism.

Illustrated throughout by clinical examples, Treating Autism Today will be of interest to Lacanian clinicians and scholars, as well as psychotherapists, psychologists, and those working with children diagnosed as being on the autistic spectrum.

Laura Tarsia is a psychoanalyst working with adults and young people in London. She is a member and lecturer at CFAR.

Kristina Valendinova is a psychoanalyst and translator in London, and a member of CFAR and of the Cercle Freudien in Paris. She is the co-founder of Bubble and Speak, a "maison verte" drop-in for small children and their carers.