You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
This paper explores the meeting of autism and adolescent developmental processes from a combined psychoanalytic and developmental perspective. Meltzer's four states of minds or ‘communities’, and the back and forth movements between them during the adolescent period, are described and serve as the theoretical underpinnings for the exploration of adolescent processes in the autistic individual. Motivation, or the desire and emotional capacity to encounter novelty and change, as the engine for movement between the four different states of mind, is also explored. An emphasis is placed on two key characteristics of the autistic experience – sensory/emotional overload and social struggle – and the impact and implications these have on the emotional capacity to cope with the many changes that characterise this transitional period. Clinical examples are used to illustrate the young person's neurodivergent experience and to encourage clinical techniques that are better adapted to this experience and that hopefully ease the burden placed on these young people to meet neurotypical expectations. The concluding section of this paper will offer some thoughts on the experiences of the parents of autistic adolescents.