Seminar 1.november – Save the date
This seminar will explore the psychoanalytic understanding of autism through the lens of Dr. Leon S. Brenner’s *The Autistic Subject: On the Threshold of Language* (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020), which positions autism as a distinct subjective structure within Lacanian theory. Brenner’s work challenges cognitive and identitarian approaches, offering a fresh perspective that aligns autism with Freud’s classical structures of psychosis, neurosis, and perversion. We will delve into neurodiversity, addressing common misconceptions such as the supposed lack of empathy in autistic individuals, and instead propose a psychoanalytic framework that emphasizes language and transference.
Drawing on Lacan’s insights into the therapeutic engagement with autistic patients—specifically, his assertion that the challenge lies in finding how to say something to them—we will focus on the specialized mode of listening required in clinical practice with autistic individuals. Through this, we aim to expand our understanding of autism and enrich therapeutic approaches to care.
Dr. Leon S. Brenner (Ph.D.) is a psychoanalyst and psychoanalytic theorist based in Berlin, specializing in the intersection of culture and psychopathology within the Freudian and Lacanian traditions. His research spans psychoanalytic theory, subjectivity, mental health—including autism and depression—and philosophical inquiries into knowledge and identity. Brenner is the author of the bestselling book The Autistic Subject: On the Threshold of Language (Palgrave/Springer, 2021 and 2023), which offers a Lacanian perspective on autism. He is also the founder of Lacanian Affinities Berlin (laLAB) and Unconscious Berlin, organizations that foster psychoanalytic thought and practice.
