Humming against the void: working with the Sinthome in an autistic adolescent with psychosis
Makaleler > Tam Makale · 2025
Yazarlar: Yiğit ÖZAYDIN, Naz Arslan, Fevzi Tuna OCAKOĞLU, Tezan BİLDİK
Journal of Child Psychotherapy, Uluslararası, Scopus, 2025, cilt 51, ss 419-432
DOI: 10.1080/0075417x.2025.2550027
Özet
Autistic adolescents who experience psychotic episodes present complex clinical challenges. Conventional therapeutic approaches may fall short in engaging with the symbolic disruptions and affective fragmentation seen in such presentations. This case study explores a psychodynamically oriented treatment of a 16-year-old autistic adolescent male following a substance-induced psychotic breakdown, framed through Lacanian and classical psychoanalytic concepts. The paper aims to illustrate how individualised symptom structures – particularly Lacan’s notion of the Sinthome —can be integrated into psychodynamic therapy to support stabilisation, emotional regulation, and symbolic expression. The case study demonstrates how a psychodynamically informed approach that respects and utilises the patient’s idiosyncratic organising mechanisms can foster symbolic integration, emotional containment, and therapeutic change. The Sinthome, far from being a barrier, can become an entry point into shared meaning-making when approached with clinical creativity and theoretical grounding.