Sensoriality has several functions in the psychic elaboration of the autistic individual and in his psychic evolution during his therapeutic care. We follow in this research the idea of the transformation of a defensive use of sensoriality into a mutative process, of a construction of the bodily self, as well as a work of primary symbolization, inscription, representation and figurability. With the psychotherapy of an autistic child in an institution, we explore the functions of sensoriality based on the particular attention paid to bodily experiences in the transference and counter-transference dimension. This allows the therapist to experience anxieties related to primary sensory experiences. By relying on the counter-transferential resonance of the patient’s various anxieties, a shared sensoriality helps to metabolize the experiences of primitive catastrophe that have hindered the organization of a continuous feeling of existing. This therapeutic dynamic opens up new psychic and relational perspectives.
Key words:
Sensoriality; body; primitive anxieties; transference; countertransference; autism