On intersubjective aspects of autism. The ‘lightduress’ of human contact

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this article, I propose that some autistic states can be seen as a defensive organisation utilised to cope with the threat of the ‘light’ of human contact. An autistic child-patient may perceive the therapist’s separateness as an overwhelming threat, expressed in the way a therapist plays with him. This may feel thus to the patient as a threatening ‘light’. In this work, I argue that the therapist must survive their feeling, involving the idea that the way they are playing with the child-patient is destructive. The therapist must come to recognise that the part of the patient through which he or she perceives separateness is not only a developmental achievement, but also, for the child-patient, a catastrophic change. The therapist’s ability to see the separateness of patient and therapist as a catastrophe helps them be attuned to the child’s fear of the light of human contact. I describe a therapy in which these considerations, alive in my mind as I played with a seven-year-old girl, helped her recover from an autistic-psychotic hallucinatory state. Her growing ability to tolerate separateness helped her develop the capacity for symbolic play and language. After discussing my work with this patient, I go on to elucidate Ogden’s view of the autistic-contiguous position. I suggest that the primordial preverbal interior reactions of the body become the most primal way of signifying reality. On this basis, I develop a set of ideas concerning some intersubjective aspects of autism.