ABSTRACT
Early theories about the aetiology of autism attributed the social, linguistic and behavioural features to emotional difficulties that derived from exposure to inadequate parenting. For example, Bettelheim (1967) argued that autistic withdrawal was the child’s response to cold, unemotional, inadequate parenting. Some of the annoying features of autism, such as echolalia, insistence on sameness and stereotyped rituals were viewed as expressions of hostility towards parents who were thought to be perceived by the child as failing to fulfil his or her needs. Long-term non-directive psychodynamic psychotherapy, which focused on helping children deal with the central emotional difficulty, was identified as the treatment of choice. The aim of the therapy was to provide a substitute parent-child relationship that would meet the child’s needs for warmth and acceptance. In some instances, psychotherapy for parents to help them resolve the emotional difficulties that underpinned their inadequate parenting, was also recommended. These theories evolved within the psychodynamic tradition at a time when psychodynamic studies of children separated from their parents during the war or through hospitalization highlighted the value of parental emotional warmth and availability or a psychotherapeutic substitute for this in helping children to cope with separation.
