Self and Intersubjectivity in Autism: Directions in Research

The Self is essentially a social structure and arises out of social experiences. There are different views about the concept of Self and the process of its differentiation. Autism is a complex neurobiological disorder that makes it hard for the people with autism to communicate with others and relate to the outside world. Since autistic people have problems in relating to the outer world, they may have problems in forming a coherent sense of ‘self and the other’. Intersubjectivity and interpersonal relations are fundamental to a human being’s very essence and being-in-the-world. This paper attempts to analyse the concept of Self and intersubjectivity with reference to autism disorder. An understanding of Self and intersubjectivity is essential for communication and social interaction. An attempt is made to draw views from various theoretical models of Self, and factors which constitute self and intersubjectivity, are discussed. These factors viz, perception, thematisation, symbolisation and theory of mind are examined with reference to autism disorder. Inputs from previous research on these aspects in autism are incorporated and directions for further research are suggested. INTRODUCTION Both social cognition research and psychoanalytic object relations theory address the cognitive and affective processes that mediate interpersonal functioning. Since the 1940s and 1950s, psychodynamic theory and therapy have seen a shift towards a greater emphasis on patterns of thought and feeling that underlie interpersonal behaviour. Fairbairn (1) enunciated an interpersonal alternative to Freudian Theory, arguing that what binds people to one another is a need for relatedness, not the pursuit of sexual pleasure. Sullivan (2) developed an interpersonal theory that emphasises the person’s construction of an understanding of Self through early social interaction and the distortions in personality and self-concept necessitated by the avoidance of interpersonally generated anxiety. Sullivan emphasised the centrality of affect in representations of self and others, particularly in childhood. For Heinz Kohut (3), serious or long-lasting disorders of the psyche are all fundamentally the result of deficiencies in the self-object relationship, either in the present or more commonly in the past, so that an adequate nuclear Self either has not formed or cannot be actualised in life. G.H. Mead analysed the phenomena of consciousness from the standpoint of how they are formed within the structures of linguistically or symbolically mediated interaction (4). The Self is essentially a social structure and arises out of social experiences. The expression ‘me’ designates the perspective from which the child builds up a system of internal behaviour controls by adopting the expectations of the generalised other towards himself. The ‘I’ reacts to the self which arises through the taking of the attitudes of others. Autism is a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life. The result of a neurological disorder that affects the functioning of the brain, autism and its associated behaviours have been estimated to occur in as many as 1 in 500 individuals (5). Autism impacts the normal development of the brain in the areas of social interaction and communication skills. In a normal child, until about the second year of life, we are told that there is no differentiation between Self and other. Before the stage of self-development, or during infancy, all there is, is a striving to gain comfort and to avoid discomfort. Once the infant experiences that its needs are not always met, the manageable frustration that follows is what makes it aware that an outer world exists. When, through its own efforts, through signals or by giving signs; the infant learns that it has been able to influence the external world, is the point at which it begins to become a social being. Children and adults with autism typically have difficulties in verbal and non-verbal communication, social interaction and leisure or play activities. The disorder makes it hard for them to communicate with others and relate to the outside world. Since autistic people have problems in relating to the outer world, they may have problems in forming a coherent sense of ‘self and the other’. P e r c e p t i o n , M e t a p e r c e p t i o n a n d A u t i s m Intersubjectivity and interpersonal relations are fundamental to a human being’s very essence and being-inthe-world. Without intersubjectivity the subject cannot be a subject. Encounters with the world of things is not sufficient to establish subjectivity; human interaction is necessary. The basis of intersubjectivity is established via perception (6). Intersubjectivity is a part of our experience and we observe it in action. The condition for knowledge is the presence of the ‘other’. We become aware of the world not primarily because of our contacts with things, but because of our interrelations with others. There are situations in which the presence of the other is not in fact a menace, but on the contrary, a confirmation of one’s being — not only psychologically, but also ontologically. The phenomenon of perception is not an objective but an inter-subjective one. Perception becomes complete when proper meanings are given to our sensations. When we fail to give appropriate meanings to sensations, perception becomes distorted. This is what happens in autism. Perceiving inanimate things as real persons, called physiognomic perception, might be a very characteristic mode not only in infancy, but also in autism. Rimland (7) described the perceptual capacities of autistic children as ‘molecular perception’. In autism, according to Rimland, stimuli are apprehended, but not comprehended. Meta-perception, a term coined by R.D.Laing (8), is the perception that people have of another person’s perception of someone. Here the concern is with the perceptions of the targets’ perception of the perceiver. Meta-perception is a complex task which requires meta-representation ability. Because of the problems of autistic children in second-order representations, they have problems in meta-perception also. The difficulty in meta-representation is reflected in various aspects of social interaction like reciprocity, consensus, selfother agreement and anticipation. T h e m a t i s a t i o n a n d m e a n i n g i n A u t i s m The process of making sense of things may be referred to as Thematisation, a concept taken from phenomenological psychology. Thematisation consists of what a person does to give meaning to experiences (9). Meanings are objective in that they must be responsibly discovered rather than arbitrarily invented. Being human always points to, or is directed towards, something or someone other than oneself. A human being is always reaching out for meanings to ‘fulfil’ in the world, but he is never primarily concerned with anything within himself (10). The process of thematising not only allows an individual to make sense of what is going on in the present (11) but also offers a structure for the thought in different temporal and spatial modalities such as those involved in imagining (12), dreaming (13) and remembering (14). Thematisation implies that there is some cognitive capability for holding thoughts in the mind, or what Piaget calls “representational thinking” (15). Autistic children have problems in originating themes. It can be found in two major characteristics of these children viz. obliviousness to their environment and self-stimulatory behaviours. Autistic people have themes generally different from other people. Thematic contents may be narrower in that they are focused on a single aspect rather than the larger picture. It is clear from the following conversation between a sixteenyear-old autistic boy, SC and his teacher. SC is bilingual with Bangla as his mother tongue and English, second language. He is fluent in both these languages. The following conversations are recorded in natural as well as semi-structured settings. C o n v e r s a t i o n 1 Teacher : Hi...How are you? SC : I am all right. Can I laugh now? Yes, if you want you can laugh. Baat Nikale.................. T : You can sit on that chair. SC : I don’t feel comfortable on this chair. There is grass on it. Can I laugh now? If you want you can. Aa...........Aaa..............forty five. Forty five..........Baat Nikale..............Forty five.