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Cited by 257Historical Psychiatry and Medical PracticesAcademic and Historical Perspectives in PsychologyAutism Spectrum Disorder Research

How autism became autism: The radical transformation of a central concept of child development in Britain

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Evans, Bonnie·2013·History of the Human Sciences
DOI 10.1177/0952695113484320PMC PMC3757918
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Abstract

This article argues that the meaning of the word ‘autism’ experienced a radical shift in the early 1960s in Britain which was contemporaneous with a growth in epidemiological and statistical studies in child psychiatry. The first part of the article explores how ‘autism’ was used as a category to describe hallucinations and unconscious fantasy life in infants through the work of significant child psychologists and psychoanalysts such as Jean Piaget, Lauretta Bender, Leo Kanner and Elwyn James Anthony. Theories of autism were then associated both with schizophrenia in adults and with psychoanalytic styles of reasoning. The closure of institutions for ‘mental defectives’ and the growth in speech therapy services in the 1960s and 1970s encouraged new models for understanding autism in infants and children. The second half of the article explores how researchers such as Victor Lotter and Michael Rutter used the category of autism to reconceptualize psychological development in infants and children via epidemiological studies. These historical changes have influenced the form and function of later research into autism and related conditions.

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References 100 · Cited by 257

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Authors
Evans, B.
Affiliations
King's College London (GB)
Corresponding author
Evans, Bonnie
ORCID
Evans, Bonnie
Venue
History of the Human Sciences
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2013-05-08
Volume
26
Issue
3
Pages
3-31
ISSN
  • 0952-6951 (ISSN-L)
  • 1461-720X
DOI
10.1177/0952695113484320
PMC
PMC3757918
OpenAlex
W2172112531
Cited by
257
References
100
Citations by year
2026: 15 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 33 · 2023: 39 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 43 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 3
FWCI
1.08
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • History of the Human Sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion)
  • Research Explorer (The University of Manchester) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Wellcome Trust (086071, 077889)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › General Psychology › Academic and Historical Perspectives in Psychology
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
Keywords
autism spectrum disorder, history of autism, conceptual history, child psychiatry, schizophrenia, psychoanalysis, Piaget, Leo Kanner, Michael Rutter, institutional closure, speech therapy, infant development, child development

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