Frances Tustin (born Frances Daisy Vickers; 1913 in

Northern England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...

) was a pioneering child psychotherapist renowned for her work with children with

autism The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

in the 1950s. She became a teacher and began studying

psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...

in 1943 at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

.Frances Tustin
/ref> 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 The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust is a specialist mental health trust based in north London. The Trust specialises in talking therapies. The education and training department caters for 2,000 students a year from the United Kin ...

, which was chaired by the pioneer in child development

John Bowlby Edward John Mostyn Bowlby, CBE, FBA, FRCP, FRCPsych (; 26 February 1907 – 2 September 1990) was a British psychologist, psychiatrist, and psychoanalyst, notable for his interest in child development and for his pioneering work in attachmen ...

Psychotherapy career

In the mid-1950s she traveled to the USA to work at the James Jackson Putnam Center 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. She returned to London and published her first book '' Autism and Childhood Psychosis'' in 1972 followed by three more books and numerous journal articles, translated worldwide, up until her death, at age 81, in 1994.

Legacy

Her contribution to the development of

was recognized in 1984 by the

British Psychoanalytical Society The British Psychoanalytical Society was founded by the British neurologist Ernest Jones as the London Psychoanalytical Society on 30 October 1913. It is one of two organizations in Britain training psychoanalysts, the other being the British P ...

, which awarded her the rare status of Honorary Affiliate Member. The Frances Tustin Memorial Trust awards an annual prize for papers addressing the treatment of autistic states in children, adolescents or adults.

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 some peer-reviewed articles.

References

External links

The Frances Tustin Trust
(featuring the history of Frances Tustin and her life's work) Alumni of the University of London 1913 births 1990 deaths Analysands of Wilfred Bion Autism researchers British psychotherapists People educated at Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School People from Grantham Psychology writers {{autism-stub