Houzel, Didier <br/><br/>
The concept of extension in the psychoanalytic treatment of child autism 

 -  2018.<br/>							 
<br/><br/> 9 
<br/><br/> Extension is a mathematical concept borrowed by W. R. Bion in his theory of the psychic apparatus. The author shows that Frances Tustin applied this concept to the psychoanalytic treatment of autistic children who are unable to extend their field of experience from its sensory bases to thinking. The psychoanalyst must endeavor to join the child in his/her sensory experiences in order to be able to propose to the child, when the time comes, for an extension of his/her sensory experience to the field of myth and passion, as defined by Bion. In order to achieve this extension, the psychoanalyst must be particularly attentive to the counter-transference of his/her own lived experiences on the one hand, and the patient’s body language on the other hand.