It is now widely accepted that autism, whatever clinical forms it takes, is a neurobiological disorder that determines a different relationship to others and to the world. Once the neurobiological origin is accepted, the challenge for caregivers, teachers, and parents of autistic adults and children is to make a place for them in this world, each according to their specificity. In France, and due to the influence of psychoanalysis, there has always been a tendency to consider autism as a childhood psychosis. One of the first cases of autism was described by psychoanalyst Mélanie Klein (the famous "Dick case") in the 1930s. In the early 1950s, when in France the pioneering work of Léo Kanner was little known, Jacques Lacan, thus anticipating the current notion of joint attention, took an interest in the Dick case, for which he developed an "optical model" of personality, without, however, commenting on his diagnosis. This book explores different theoretical approaches to autism, from psychoanalysis to cognitive science. Its author draws not only on scientific literature but also on clinical examples from his own practice to arrive at a precise conclusion regarding the indication of psychoanalytic treatment for autistic people. Can the psychoanalyst alone be a therapeutic response to autism? Certainly not. Is psychoanalysis indicated for autistic people? It is, provided that it completely recasts its conception of autism, as some psychoanalysts have done in recent years, which this book demonstrates. Preface by Jean-Claude Maleval - Afterword by Ariane Giacobino