[Early infantile autism: from a psychoanalytic point of view in 1993]

The syndrome of early age autism sets in during the first two years of life. Various theories have been developed on the basis of etiological hypotheses postulating the occurrence of an accident in the psychic development of the infant. According to their personal theoretical orientation, authors have formulated the consequences of this accident in terms of a deficit or a regression. The author investigates various contexts in which the syndrome develops before continuing on its own. Outcomes are also diverse and do not seem to be always linked to the initial modes of organization, therefore raising some therapeutical questions.