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EARLY INFANTILE AUTISM, AUTISMUS INFANTUM AND PSEUDO‐AUTISM*
Author(s) -
Makita Kiyoshi
Publication year - 1964
Publication title -
psychiatry and clinical neurosciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1440-1819
pISSN - 1323-1316
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1819.1964.tb00016.x
Subject(s) - autism , psychology , developmental psychology
S ummary With the purpose of helping in the understanding of, and avoiding possible misunderstandings of, so‐called seemingly autistic conditions in children, a discussion. is presented on the basis of published literatures and of the author's own case materials, which is summarized as follows: (1) The concept of early infantile autism proposed by Kanner and its diagnostic criteria were briefly reviewed. (2) On the nosological allocation of the said condition, Kanner's view‐point considering it as the earliest manifestation of a schizophrenic disorder was supported, while van Krevelen's thinking that it can be classified under the heading of oligophrenia was opposed. (3) The difference between early infantile autism and the condition proposed by van Krevelen under the term of “Autismus Infantum” was pointed out. It was stressed that the two different conditions should not be confused, since the latter is felt to be but an organic condition which has a seemingly autism‐like appearance. (4) The concept of “autism” proposed by Bleuler was reexamined and the required caution in its application with children was discussed. The emphasis was placed on basing the application more on the non‐existence of organic involvement and the child's unique human relationships than on superficial observations of the child's behavior. (5) On the basis of the above mentioned discussions, a description of “pseudo‐autism” was proposed by the author in order to delineate seemingly autism‐like conditions from the essential autism (i.e., schizophrenic). Pseudo‐autism, further, is devided into organic pseudo‐autism and neurotic pseudo‐autism, which results in the inclusion of van Krevelen's “Autismus Infantum” in the former subgroup of the author's, and helps in the avoidance of meaningless confusion. (6) A brief case illustration was offered to serve as an aid in understanding what was proposed as “neurotic pseudo‐autism”. Nothing can be said about its nosological allocation; the term “neurotic pseudo‐autism” seems to be useful and appropriate in describing such a condition. (7) It was suggested that an effort should be made to stick strictly to Kanner's criteria in so far as the term “early infantile autism” or just “autism”—as its abbreviation—are used. (8) The conclusion was made that though “pseudo‐autism”, by no means, represents a clinical entity, it may be useful in indicating the nature of disorder and in avoiding possible misunderstanding or confusion.