Abstract
The purpose of this article is to reflect on the use of objects in the direction of the psychoanalytical treatment of autistic infants. Firstly, from the Freudian opposition between pleasure and reality principles, we will make some considerations regarding the importance of the object in the subjective constitution. Next, we will reappraise Frances Tustin’s formulations on the autistic object as well as Bruno Bettelheim’s Joey case, in order to illustrate how these authors envisage the use of objects in the clinical setting. Finally, we will debate with contemporary authors the importance of a resumption of the notion of object in the scope of both psychoanalytical theory and practice.
autism; subjective constitution; treatment; object; psychoanalysis