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Autistic transformations: Bion's theory and autistic phenomena is a collection of essays written by the author between 1992 and 2005 that track the identification, analysis, and steering of a psychoanalytic problem in the theoretical
and clinical realms. The identified problem, in the author's words, is the presence of states in which “bodily sensations prevail in place of fantasies and emotions” (p. xix). Fix Korbivcher designates these states as autistic transformations. Her theoretical orientation results from the combination of Bion's theory of transformations (Bion, 1965) with the idea that an autistic part of the personality coexists with other parts that show neurotic or psychotic functioning (Tustin, 1986). In the clinical dimension, her contributions outline the need to identify patients' autistic states so as to provide suitable psychoanalytic approaches.
The sequence of the chapters offers us the possibility to follow the emergence and development of the notion of autistic transformations. The first three chapters discuss the clinical problems that prompted this research as well as the author's attempts to tackle autistic phenomena within the established psychoanalytic frame of reference. The fourth chapter expounds on the new approach, which brings together ideas on the autistic condition and Bion's theory of transformations through a carefully developed theoretical-clinical framework. The fifth chapter examines the autistic phenomenon's specific demands on the analyst's mind. Finally, the sixth and last chapter reaches a greater level of abstraction in its study of the consequences of incorporating the concept of autistic transformations into the psychoanalytic frame of reference.
It is worth noting the recognition received by the essays that served as the basis for the last three chapters. Fix Korbivcher was awarded four national and international prizes: the Fábio Leite Lobo Prize, by the Associação Brasileira de Psicanálise in 2002; the Parthenope B