ABSTRACT
Autistic shapes seem to have much in common with the 'tactile hallucinations' described by Piera Aulangier. Indeed, in the author's earlier paper on autistic shapes, which was written before she knew about Aulangier's work, she suggested that autistic shapes were a kind of 'tactile hallucination'. Autistic sensation-dominated shapes are experienced on internal and external body surfaces which are not differentiated as outside or inside. The self-induced autistic shapes of Steve, Peter, Elly and Tony were calming agents on the ruffled surface of their stream of consciousness. They poured oil on troubled waters. Autistic shapes are pre-image, pre-object and thus presymbolic. When Madame Cauquil worked with this five-year-old autistic boy neither she nor her supervisor, Madame Annie Anzieu, knew about formulations concerning autistic shapes. Madame Cauquil has generously given the author permission to use this material. The clinical material illustrates Steve's outburst of 'shapes' in the stressful situation of being separated from his mother.
