Deprivation, dysperception, or dyssynchrony? A discussion of Singletary's integrative model of autism spectrum disorder. Commentary on "An integrative model of autism spectrum disorder: ASD as a neurobiological disorder of experienced environmental deprivation, early life stress, and allostatic overload" by William M. Singletary, MD. Issue 1 (2nd January 2016) - Ouss, Lisa
Abstract : In the previous issue of the journal, Singletary proposed an integrative model of autism spectrum disorder, based on a considerable amount of data from different fields of knowledge such as clinical psychiatry, psychoanalysis, experimental psychology, neurobiology, neuroanatomy, or psychopharmacology [Singletary, W.M. (2015). An integrative model of autism spectrum disorder: ASD as a neurobiological disorder of experienced environmental deprivation, early life stress and allostatic overload. Neuropsychoanalysis, 17 (2), 81–119]. We will briefly discuss this paper, with comments on three points of debate: 1) the author's central hypothesis that neurobiological factors lead to the experience of environmental deprivation in autism, which we propose to reformulate using the terms "dysperception" or "dyssynchrony"; 2) the limits of the author's speculative argumentation; and 3) the specificities of the psychoanalytic process and the influence of neuroscientific knowledge on the psychotherapeutic technique. Singletary's paper thus raises fundamental questions for an integrative approach of autism and a neuropsychoanalytic perspective on developmental disorders.