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Post-Autism: A Psychoanalytical Narrative, with Supervisions by Donald Meltzer

Author(s) : Marisa Pelella Melega

Reviews and Endorsements

‘This book describes the journey in the late 1970s and early 1980s of a therapist tirelessly struggling to maintain an intimate dialogue with a pubertal boy who presented as a case of untreated infantile autism. At each step Marisa Pelella Mélega questions the efficacy of different approaches and even her conviction about the appropriateness of a psychoanalytic approach. The therapist’s desire is to make contact with the deeply human in the child, breaking through the defensive layer of hardness she runs into time and again. Donald Meltzer supports this adventure and finds in this work inspiration for innovative, interesting ideas. The reader can easily empathize and identify with the therapist in her struggle, and the book gives rise to new ideas and leads to the conviction that a psychoanalytic approach to treating patients who are within the autistic spectrum is not only possible but also highly desirable.’
- Lucy Bermann and Dolors Cid, Members of the Grupo Psicoanalitico de Barcelona (Psychoanalytic Group of Barcelona)

‘There is much to admire in this book. It is a pioneering work in Brazil on the topic of the autistic spectrum. It also provides an interesting opportunity to journey backwards in time to a period when work with this type of patient was relatively new, and to compare it with the way things are now. The narrative movingly recounts the detailed texture of the sessions, and shows Marisa Pelella Mélega’s great capacity for the minute discussion of countertransference phenomena. In addition, there is the richness of Donald Meltzer’s supervisions, and despite the distance (as these were mainly conducted by post), the intricate interaction of both analysts in the joint task of working to bring the patient into the world of human relationships and interests.’
- Mariza Leite Da Costa, Child and adolescent psychotherapist in Brazil, former member of the Autism Workshop, Tavistock Clinic, and teacher of Infant Observation, Essex University