The DSM tells us that child psychosis no longer exists. Structures are erased and replaced by symptoms, categorized into “disorders.” The “handicapped” child requires exclusively rehabilitative care. Through clinical examples, we'll see how, for psychoanalysis, the diagnosis of psychosis retains all its relevance, even if the identification of structures is complicated by the patient's age. Following the teachings of Freud and Lacan, we’ll find our way through the constitution of structure, of fantasy, and the place of the child in its relationship with the Other and with reality.

Autistic subjects live in the grip of the real, facing an invasive jouissance and a threatening Other not yet symbolized. Yet in their bricolage, or tinkering, they devise a way to relate to that real, a singular style for inscribing themselves in the world. If Freud conceived psychotic delusion as an attempt at healing, or the neurotic symptom as a compromise formation, we can identify in the autistic difference a solution found by the subject. Clinical examples will be discussed, and we will learn to read this subject’s signature, strange as it may appear.