"Little or nothing has been written about psychoanalytic work with adult patients [with autism] with the degree of psychopathology and damage such as those described by Dr Tremelloni. Her patience, persistence, and stamina appear to be tremendous, and the patients' lives have been transformed. The treatments described are long and arduous, and the book makes an exciting read, as we see the ice beginning to melt, and psychosis and autism exchanged for ordinary suffering and ordinary pride and pleasure." -- Anne Alvarez, Consultant Child and Adolescent psychotherapist
The title of this book takes us on an imaginary voyage to a distant land where people live in extremely difficult and uncomfortable climatic and environmental conditions. In the same way, psychotic and autistic patients seem to experience an emotional inner world characterized by loneliness and coldness. This frozen world of emotions is also reflected in the transference and prevents the formation of the therapeutic alliance, which is indispensable for the therapy to develop.
The unusually long psychoanalytic relationships between the patients and the analyst detailed in this book made it possible to observe how the various phases in the life of the patients and their symptoms developed and changed in unexpected ways.
In the first part of the book, the characteristics of autistic child psychotherapies and those of the adult cases illustrated are compared. The obstacles to the progress of the therapy are described in detail as well as the factors that prove to be therapeutic.
The author claims that the analyst's position might also be an active one especially at particularly critical moments when it is essential to revitalize the frozen parts of the patient and subsequently encourage the integration of emotions with feelings and promote the process of symbolization.
The title of this book takes us on an imaginary voyage to a distant land where people live in extremely difficult and uncomfortable climatic and environmental conditions. In the same way, psychotic and autistic patients seem to experience an emotional inner world characterized by loneliness and coldness. This frozen world of emotions is also reflected in the transference and prevents the formation of the therapeutic alliance, which is indispensable for the therapy to develop.
The unusually long psychoanalytic relationships between the patients and the analyst detailed in this book made it possible to observe how the various phases in the life of the patients and their symptoms developed and changed in unexpected ways.
In the first part of the book, the characteristics of autistic child psychotherapies and those of the adult cases illustrated are compared. The obstacles to the progress of the therapy are described in detail as well as the factors that prove to be therapeutic.
The author claims that the analyst's position might also be an active one especially at particularly critical moments when it is essential to revitalize the frozen parts of the patient and subsequently encourage the integration of emotions with feelings and promote the process of symbolization.
