2022
Cairn
Juan Pablo Lucchelli, « Georg Frankl: The first, or third, link in the chain of the origin of autism? », Cahiers de PréAut, ID : 10670/1.967c0b...
Autism is a developmental disorder that has significant consequences on the future of the individuals concerned. Officially described for the first time in the 1940s, the disorder has been through several conceptual oscillations, but increasingly it is considered a sort of spectrum or continuum characterized mainly by a difficulty in social communication. In this article we will show how two very different clinical types of the autistic spectrum, i.e., the clinical descriptions of Kanner and Asperger, owe much to the role played by the Viennese psychiatrist Georg Frankl, who worked with both clinicians. Frankl’s role would not only have been to establish a channel of communication between Kanner and Asperger, but to decisively influence both psychiatrists.