12

In this paper, the author describes some of the tripartite constellations encountered in the material of children on the autistic spectrum. These could be seen as constituting a primitive “autistic” level of the Oedipus complex in which the fundamental anxieties are existential ones. It is suggested that these fears of annihilation are felt at a physical level, and that this physical aspect appears to be a distinctive feature of the experience of the Oedipal constellation in autistic children. Clinical illustrations show the experience of bodily mutilation within the feeding relationship; Oedipal aspects of sense perception; the nature of the relationship between male and female elements making up the psychic skin, and the balance between the child, the mother, and the mother’s internal figures. Some implications for cognitive development are discussed.