Editorial: Camouflage and autism
Eric Fombonne
Abstract
The theme of camouflage recently gained unexpected momentum in autism research. Symposia and panel discussions are devoted to ‘ camouflage’ in autism conferences. Because of its association with intended deception, the term camouflage has poor fit with the autism world. However, psychopathologists have a long tradition of resorting to camouflage‐like terminology, from Freud’s reaction formation, to pseudoschizophrenia, to Winnicott’s false self, to masked depression, and even to the recent quasi‐autism, artfully telling us that what we see is actually not what we see but rather what we cannot see. Is ‘Camouflaged Autism’ the next in line nosographical pearl?
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Prof. Eric Fombonne
Prof. Eric Fombonne trained in child and adolescent psychiatry in France. He held appointments as clinical scientist at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM, France), as Senior Lecturer and Reader at the Institute of Psychiatry and Maudsley Hospital, King’s College London, UK (1993-2001), as tenured Professor of Psychiatry at McGill University (Canada), Head of the Division of Child Psychiatry and Canada Research Chair in Child Psychiatry (2001-2012). In September 2012, he joined the Department of Psychiatry at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon (USA), and is now Director of Autism Research at the Institute for Developmental Disabilities. He has a long experience of clinical work with children with autism and their families, over the lifespan, and has been also directing clinical services for teenagers with depression. His research activities on developmental disorders and child and adolescent psychiatric disorders encompass clinical/longitudinal and population-based epidemiological studies, clinical trials, and genetic studies. He has published over 320 articles in peer-reviewed journals, 40 chapters in books. He is past Associate Editor of the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (JADD; 1994-2004); he is currently Joint Editor of Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (JCPP) and is on the editorial board of several other journals in the field of autism and child psychiatry.
