THE HISTORY OF AUTISM IN THE FIRST HALF CENTURY OF THE 20TH CENTURY: NEW AND REVISED

Abstract

This paper examines the prehistory and history of autism in the first half of the 20th century. The prehistory focuses on Heller’s dementia Infantilis and Bleuler’s autism and schizophrenia. The more formal history begins with Tramer (1924), and continues with Ssucharewa (1926), which still contains some of the best descriptions of autism, although she called the condition schizoid psychopaths or schizoid personality disorders. There is still debate about when and whether Asperger and Kanner read Ssucharewa (1926), but the paper was republished in German in 1932 and quoted by Kanner, post his 1943 paper. The point is that Ssucharewa publication has precedents. George Frankl, the predecessor of Hans Asperger by many years, in the Heilpadogik Clinic was therefore a key figure in the description of autism in Vienna and later he went to America and worked under Leo Kanner, whom he described autism to.