The Place of the Autistic Spectrum Disorders in Contemporary European Psychological Studies

Abstract

In spite of clearly marked borders of the phenomenon of autism phenomenon, its qualitative differentiation with schizophrenia and psychosis is still debatable. At the same time the problem of differentiation of autistic and psychotic spectrums on qualitative criteria is substantial. Autism spectrum disorders are an etiologically and clinically heterogeneous group of developmental disorders. The This article presents an analysis of some contemporary approaches to autism spectrum disorders and their relation to psychosis in contemporary European clinical psychology and psychoanalysis. In accordance with these conceptions, autism is important not as a physiological pathology, but as a special position of a subject that places him or her inside or outside of a continuum of psychotic disorders. The author emphasizes the psychological models of autistic psychopathology. Considering the up-to-date actuality of the study of the autistic phenomenon, the author attempts to show acute psychological research of its borders with psychosis that place it in the range from independent structure to equal part of psychotic continuum and ground its position by the characteristics of its affective, somatic and cognitive spheres.