Early infantile autism and autistic psychopathy

Abstract

Early infantile autism and autistic psychopathy were first reported within the span of 1 year (1943–1944). While the former (Kanner's syndrome) has become the widely known focus of intensive investigation, the latter (Asperger's syndrome) did not receive the attention it deserves. Often the two conditions mistakenly have been thought to be identical. This paper tries (a) to assign to autistic psychopathy a definite place in psychiatric nosology and (b) to delineate sharply the differences between the essential characteristics of it and of early infantile autism. The author (who was the first European child psychiatrist to publish a case of early infantile autism) reports briefly a case of his own observation-the occurrence of Kanner's and Asperger's syndrome in one each of two members of the same family.