ABSTRACT
In this chapter; I shall consider material from three children who experienced separateness as catastrophic fragmentation. Daniel exhibited marked autistic features, including echolalia, to which he turned for protection from a witch felt to be causing his psychotic terrors. Miguel reacted to similar experiences of fragmentation by attacking the outside world; the survival of firm boundaries encouraged him to produce articulate speech. Jonathan attacked the world like Miguel, but then retreated to autistic rituals to protect himself from the consequences. I shall discuss their material in terms of the interaction of differing experiences of fragmentation and of sensation-dominated autistic processes.
