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This issue of the Research Digest was inspired by the series of online training events held by the ACP last year entitled ‘Working with children on the autism spectrum.’ These were well attended, both by those inside and outside the profession, and included presentations by Maria Rhode and Sheila Levi (both child and adolescent psychotherapists), Diana Goldin (family therapist), and Dr Myooran Canagaratnam (consultant child psychiatrist). The focus was on how a psychodynamic approach can be applied to work with young people on the autism spectrum, and included reference to the small, but promising, evidence base for early intervention models that chime very much with a psychoanalytic view on infantile development.
The inclusion of this research in the event was particularly welcome, given the fact that while clinical and theoretical development in this area is thriving, the recent review of the evidence base for psychodynamic psychotherapy with children and adolescents found ‘limited research focusing on psychodynamic approaches to neuro-developmental disorders, with no RCTs to date’ (Midgley et al., , p. 10).1 This is undoubtably an area of research that needs to develop if we are to continue working with this group of young people and their families.
A student on pre-clinical course recently asked me what the aim of psychoanalytic work with autistic children is. This is a question worth keeping this in mind while reading this review. As is the nature of research, the effect of interventions must be evaluated, and in the studies listed below, this has mostly been done through measuring change in the core symptoms of autism, such as social interaction, cognitive functioning, adaptive behaviour and verbal expression. Thus, most of the interventions researched below seek, directly or indirectly, to enhance the child’s functioning through reduction of symptom expression.
While psychoanalytic psychotherapy may indirectly impact on these areas, the primary aim is to allow t