Abstract

NAHMOD, Maia. Towards an autism epidemic?: Between celebratory histories and critical studies. Rev. Psicol. Saúde [online]. 2017, vol.9, n.2, pp. 61-76. ISSN 2177-093X.  http://dx.doi.org/10.20435/pssa.v9i2.517.

This paper aims to analyze the historiographical perspectives that point a historical continuity in the diagnosis of autism and then look at critical approaches that take into account social and cultural origins of this pathology and designate autism as a historical object. On the other hand, the concepts of Risk and Susceptibility will be used as a grid of intelligibility of issue, especially with regard to the "autism epidemic" from the prevalence growth of this diagnosis in recent decades in western societies. The concepts of historicity and social construction of this phenomenon will be used to clarify the cultural contexts of interpretation and social practices around autism in the XX and XXI centuries.

Keywords : autism; history of psychology; critical studies; child psychopathology.

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