Frances Tustin

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Frances Tustin (born Frances Daisy Vickers; 1913 in Northern England) was a pioneering child psychotherapist renowned for her work with children with autism in the 1950s. She became a teacher and began studying psychoanalysis in 1943 at the University of London.^[1]

Following the war, in 1950 she began the child psychotherapy training headed by the psychoanalyst Esther Bick in the children's department of London's Tavistock Clinic, which was chaired by the pioneer in child development John Bowlby.

Psychotherapy career[]

In the mid-1950s she traveled to the USA to work at the which treated autistic children through what today is seen as behavior therapy and began to extensively study, research and write about autism in what are some of the earliest writings on the condition.^[1]

She returned to London and published her first book in 1972 followed by three more books and numerous journal articles, translated worldwide, up until her death, at age 81, in 1994.^[1]

Legacy[]

Her contribution to the development of psychoanalysis was recognized in 1984 by the British Psychoanalytical Society, which awarded her the rare status of Honorary Affiliate Member.^[1]

The awards an annual prize for papers addressing the treatment of autistic states in children, adolescents or adults.^[1]

Controversy[]

At the beginning of the 21st Century with a gestalt shift in Autism studies underway, Tustin views on autism and the medical treatment have come under severe attack from self-advocating Autistic groups and many peer-reviewed articles. To give a flavour of the counter-blast, Mitzi Waltz has written,

".....Bettelheim described children with autism as being ‘dehumanised’ (1967: 7) and ‘animal-like’ (1967: 360), while Frances Tustin called them ‘monsters’" (Tustin, 1992: 13)." ("Autism=Death: The social and medical impact of a catastrophic model of autistic spectrum disorders") Mitzi Waltz, Popular Narrative Media,· April 2008)

References[]

External links[]

• The Frances Tustin Trust (featuring the history of Frances Tustin and her life's work)

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