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Robin Holloway's book, Asperger's Children: Psychodynamics, Aetiology, Diagnosis, and Treatment (2016) is an invaluable contribution to the project for utilizing psychoanalytic theory and clinical technique to better understand the psychic aspects of autism spectrum phenomena, that is, to better understand the whole person displaying autism spectrum phenomena or meeting criteria for autism spectrum disorders. His is the latest in a series of attempts by psychoanalysts or psychoanalytically-oriented therapists to broach the subject of autism. Other attempts include those of Frances Tustin, Donald Meltzer, Anne Alvarez, Maria Rhode, Didier Houzel, Judith Mitrani, and James Grotstein, and more recently, Celia Fix Korbvicher, Jeffrey Eaton, Lawrence Brown, Susan Sherkow, Alexandra Harrison, and William Singletary. However, Holloway's company shrinks if this group includes only those who specifically studied what would be considered diagnosable autism spectrum disorders—as opposed to what Tustin (1993) called cases of “psychogenic autism,” or others, such as Mitrani, have referred to as “autistic enclaves” in otherwise neurotic, non-autistic people—and that explicitly address the neurobiological nature of autism. In this sense, what Holloway is doing in this book is unique and important and adds a number of new insights to our understanding of autism. In the following essay, I will touch on some of Holloway's focus on the role and meaning of splitting in autism spectrum phenomena and compare them to observations I have made from my own work providing analysis with adults and psychodynamic psychotherapy with children, adolescents, and adults who exhibit autistic features brought on by neurological difference and deficit.
In his book, Holloway makes significant inroads towards shedding light on the psychological and intrapsychic concerns that characterize Asperger's Syndrome (a term I will use interchangeably with autism, autism spectrum, etc.). Holloway's appro