ABSTRACT
The Rome studies attest to thepossibility that neural as well as emotional and mental development that has been thwarted, stagnated, and distorted on all scales and measures can be stimulated and supported through psychoanalytic therapy. In this chapter, the author demonstrates how the findings of one group of neuroscientists in Parma, Italy regarding a special class of brain cells called “mirror neurons,” and the work of researchers at the University of California in San Diego have been applied to the problem of autism. She believes these might intersect with Frances Tustin’s discoveries about the nature, function, and meaning of psychogenic autism in children and even autistic states in neurotic adults. F. Tustin underscored the fact that the protective shell of autism constitutes a barrier to the potentially healing effects of human relationships and what W. R. Bion called “learning from experience.” The author concludes with a coherent picture of various dimensions of autistic phenomenon and points toward new areas for discussion and study.
