The souds of silence

Theoretical reflection on the role and meaning of musicality in the analytical relationship with an autistic patient. Based on the premise that interaction with these patients suggests many aspects of the healthy “musical” relationship between mother and infant, the article develops two aspects: the physiology of “singing mothers” and the condition of deafening silence, or of nonsense sounds, that characterizes autistic children. Some significant results of the research in this field are presented, with special reference to the studies of Colwyn Trévarthen. From the psychoanalytical standpoint, post-Jungian models of the archetype and primary self are examined, beyond the classical references of post-Kleinian psychoanalysis on the theme of autism. Two short clinical vignettes describing work with the parents of autistic children, as well as a clinical vignette excerpted from the psychoanalytical therapy of an autistic child, illustrate the specific reference to musicality.