8

This article aims to observe the impact of an autistic child in the parents’marital life. The authors enquire themselves about the therapeutic consultation as a kind of action that offers a space for holding to the couple’s anguish against the child’s condition. Parents of an autistic child, at the age of five years, have been received during three consultations. The clinical material has enabled a reflection about this practice. Due to an attentive listening, based on psychoanalysis, it was possible to recognize the construction of a demand from the narrative of the couple. They used the space and time of the interview as a place of conversation and awareness of the suffering lived, unexpressed in the family environment. Despite the complexity of family circumstances and the diversity of themes emerging, it was found that the couple was able to reflect about the care of the child; however they have not manifested regarding the marital relationship. The exposition of the case allowed to observe the effectiveness of this consultation as a holding space to the couple with an autistic child.