Asperger's Syndrome: Some Psychoanalytical Comments

The protagonist in Mark Haddon's book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time[1] is a teenager with Asperger's Syndrome. The story accurately captures something of the essence of the condition, a boy who knows a great deal about maths and very little about human beings. Although (conservatively) Asperger's Syndrome affects five to seven children in one thousand[2] and is found throughout the world[3] with some estimating the figures as high as one in a hundred,[4] the apparent increase in the disorder in recent years is explained within psychiatry in terms of an increased awareness of the disorder rather than an actual increase in incidence.…