Michael Fordham's The Self and Autism is a piece of original research into maturation in infancy and its psychopathology. He was the first to introduce the idea that the self, previously considered realizable only in later life, could be experienced by children in a manner appropriate to their age; he also found that the archetypes of the collective unconscious whose images could be demonstrated in childhood, functioned in essentially the same way as Jung described in the case of adult persons. From these two concepts he developed a theory of individuation in childhood.
Part One of the present volume contains the author's views in their present state of development, which elaborate his ideas previously summarized in Children as Individuals. Part two on child analysis considers the present state of this discipline and puts forward ideas on its technique. Part Three is reserved for case presentations. There are two lengthy studies on childhood schizophrenia and another of primary autism which give sources for the author's recent conception of defenses of the self designed to protect the individuality of the child. The Self and Autism is a thought provoking and challenging volume.
