Remarks on autism in schizophrenia

After a brief overview of the psychiatric literature dedicated to the autism, as introduced by Bleuler in the clinic of schizophrenia, this article focuses on the status of autistic syndrome in the schizophrenic symptomatology. in a first part based on the study of the negative symptomatology, the author underlines the paradoxical situation of affects in such clinical pictures, and highlights how autistic withdrawal cannot be understood as a "loss of affective contact". The second part, focused on the positive symptomatology, shows the particularities of the "autistic thought" and settles what the relevant study owes to the dream-paradigm. Finally, the author formulates the contradiction between Bleulerian and Freudian's approaches: autism is not a withdrawal on the "intimate world", but merely an effect of its exclusion. (C) 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.