Autistic Barriers in Neurotic Patients

Tustin, Frances; Grotstein, James S.

doi:10.4324/9780429472152

Cited by 52 publications

(45 citation statements)

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“…This is a state of having no floor, no boundaries, and thus no internalization of a mental space/container in which emotional experiences can be retained and processed. Devoid of reflective abilities and internal representations, such a state is typical of the ‘black hole’ phenomenon (Tustin, , ; Grotstein, , ), wherein the experience of chaos and meaninglessness is accompanied by the terror of being vacuumed into an abyss of non‐existence. Following this differentiation, I will focus on these more regressive states that are filled with the acute terror of dissolution that mobilizes intensive defensive manoeuvres.…”

Section: Clinical Case: Partmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, let us focus on the origins of the lack of representations that is typical of this terrorizing state of psychic void . Tustin () described the catastrophic anxieties that fill a child's psyche when he prematurely experiences a sense of separateness from the object, so that the self is torn apart from what was formerly experienced as part of the self. In primary states of un‐differentiation, where self and object are symbolically equated, the absence of the object is felt as if part of the self has been amputated, thus being experienced as a black hole unto which the psyche is in danger of being absorbed and annihilated.…”

Section: Clinical Case: Partmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Arid Mental Landscapes and Avid Cravings for Human Contact: Beckettian and Analytic Narratives

Schellekes¹

2019

Brit J Psychotherapy

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This paper focuses on states of mind in which a psychic void predominates, characterized by a deep sense of meaninglessness and formlessness, and on the various survival strategies and protective shells employed in the attempt to ‘a‐void’ this experience/state. At one pole, through a clinical case, I will illustrate the use of excitation envelopes and rebirth phantasies, as main pacifiers of the psychic void; at the other pole, through a discussion of Beckett's short play ‘Rockaby’, I will elaborate on overly rhythmic, controlled manoeuvres that are devoid of aliveness, but protect against the awareness of such depleted states of mind. In both cases, one can notice the oscillation between the defence employed and the ever‐pulsating need for human contact, however faint it may be. The seemingly paradoxical contradiction between the psychic void and the overly structured literary text that embodies this void is frequently encountered in texts that express and give form to otherwise formless experiences through the structuring and ordering aspects of the text. These structures simultaneously express both something of the defence against the experience of fragmentation and dissolution, and something of the experience that is being defended against by the protagonist.

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Section: Clinical Case: Partmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Clinical Case: Partmentioning

confidence: 99%

Arid Mental Landscapes and Avid Cravings for Human Contact: Beckettian and Analytic Narratives

Schellekes¹

2019

Brit J Psychotherapy

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“…A few months before his death, Winnicott addressed the question of the transformation of the patient's psychotic core in "The Use of an Object and Relating through Identifications" (1968), a paper that in my opinion 2 Such a condition is characterized by, among other aspects, omnipotence, by a murdering of time (Green 2002), by a paralysis of the self and of relationships with the object. Suppression of emotions (Bion 1965), cancellation of the object and of desire (Green 1983), nonrelatedness (Modell 1990a), psychic retreats (Steiner 1993), and autistic barriers (Tustin 1986) permit the patient to eliminate every intrapsychic and interpsychic tension, and to put himself in a condition of unreachability, which has powerful effects on the atmosphere of the session and on the analyst's mental functioning.…”

Section: Winnicott's Point Of Viewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Use of the Analyst and The Sense of Being Real: the Clinical Meaning of Winnicott’s “The Use of an Object”

Fabozzi

2016

The Psychoanalytic Quarterly

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"The Use of an Object and Relating through Identifications" (1968) represents Donald Winnicott's theoretical and clinical legacy. The author develops this concept from a clinical point of view, through the analysis of a woman with psychotic functioning. He reflects upon the dramatic quality of risks inherent in the processes linked to the use of the object with seriously disturbed patients. He explores different meanings of the analyst's survival, linking it to the analyst's response. The processes of the use of the object--that is, the encounter between the patient's potential destructiveness and the analyst's capacity to respond through his own judicious subjectivity--let the patient experience the analyst's capacity to keep his own subjectivity, authenticity, and creativity alive. It is starting from the traces of this live object that patients gradually form their own personal sense of being real.

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“…Autistic sensation shapes [18], acting as bodily traces of previous pleasant experiences, allow the child to console and defend himself from the sense of loss or abuse of the outside world stimuli.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The proposed DSM-5 criteria for autism spectrum disorders have been reduced so that the ASD symptoms are best represented Frances Tustin pointed out that when the autistic child experiences the separation from the mother before he has developed the transitional activity described by Winnicott, he starts to generate pathological auto-sensuous reactions instead of expected fantasy, imagination, thought and play [16] [17] [18] [19] [20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Theoretical Principles of the Body-Centered Therapy to Promote Affective Attunement in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Renzo¹

2017

JBBS

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Background: The roots of autism spectrum disorders become evident in first attunement mechanisms between mother and child that allow a first level of mentalizing. Neurosciences and current developmental theories confirm the existence of defensive mechanisms related to body and affectivity that psychodynamic theories had already highlighted. Reading child's behavior not only by administering tests but also through careful clinical observations allows a better understanding of the communication and social difficulties present in autistic children. The identification of the zone of proximal development can promote a therapeutic intervention that respects the individuality of the child and the specificity of his relational approach to the world. Conclusion: The paper presents the theoretical principles of a bodycentered therapy to promote the attunement processes necessary to activate cognitive resources.

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Autistic Barriers in Neurotic Patients

Cited by 52 publications

References 0 publications

Arid Mental Landscapes and Avid Cravings for Human Contact: Beckettian and Analytic Narratives

Arid Mental Landscapes and Avid Cravings for Human Contact: Beckettian and Analytic Narratives

The Use of the Analyst and The Sense of Being Real: the Clinical Meaning of Winnicott’s “The Use of an Object”

The Theoretical Principles of the Body-Centered Therapy to Promote Affective Attunement in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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