Many Faces of Asperger's Syndrome

Trudy Klauber is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist in the Child and Family Department of the Tavistock Clinic, where she is also Acting Head of Child Psychotherapy. Maria Rhode is Emeritus Professor of Child Psychotherapy at the Tavistock Clinic and the University of East London.

'This remarkable compendium reviews the history and contemporary views of the diagnosis and treatment of Asperger's syndrome, on the way dispelling the mistaken climate of blame and the current false oppositions between brain and mind. The authors support a multi-disciplinary approach to this condition, about which much has still to be discovered. Case histories of children, young people and adults helped by psychoanalytic psychotherapy contribute clinical evidence of their wide range of individual differences, their inner sufferings and protective strategies, their limits and their potential. This is a book for parents, teachers, psychiatrists, psychotherapists - indeed all who live or work with those affected by Asperger's syndrome.' - Edna O'Shaughnessy 'The enigma of Asperger's syndrome has attracted some of the best minds in Child Psychiatry and Psychology, Genetics and Neuroscience. This stimulating yet demanding compilation describes the psychoanalytic psychotherapy perspective on treatment for adults and children, and the support required for parents in making sense of their children's behaviour, socialisation and education. It is a worthy addition to knowledge of the many faces of this intriguing syndrome.' - Professor Lionel Hersov

• Series Editor’s Preface -- Preface -- Introduction -- This is Asperger’s Syndrome -- Asperger’s syndrome and Autism: distinct syndromes with important similarities -- A psychological perspective on theories of Asperger’s syndrome -- A child psychotherapist’s commentary on Hans Asperger’s 1944 paper, “‘Autistic Psychopathy’ in Childhood” -- What does it feel like? Two first-person accounts by adults with Asperger’s syndrome -- Finding the bridge: psychoanalytic work with Asperger’s syndrome adults -- Is this Asperger’s Syndrome? Issues of Assessment -- Issues in assessment: Asperger’s syndrome and personality -- A matter of life and death: bodily integrity and psychic survival -- Clinical Case Histories -- Sleeping beauty: the development of psychic strength, love, and imagination in a 4-year-old girl -- Out of the nightmare: the treatment of a 5-year-old girl with Asperger’s syndrome -- Hiding and learning to seek: becoming a somebody -- The lure of a mad world: supporting a 10-year-old boy’s capacity for ordinary contact -- “I need my scripts”: A boy with Asperger’s syndrome entering adolescence -- On becoming of consequence -- Psychotherapy and community care -- Endpiece