Bruno Bettelheim (August 28, 1903 – March 13, 1990) was an Austrian-born American child psychologist and writer. He gained an international reputation for his views on autism and for his claimed success in treating emotionally disturbed children.
Bettelheim subscribed to and became a prominent proponent of the "refrigerator mother" theory of autism — the theory that autistic behaviors stem from the emotional frigidity of the children's mothers — ...
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Bruno Bettelheim (August 28, 1903 – March 13, 1990) was an Austrian-born American child psychologist and writer. He gained an international reputation for his views on autism and for his claimed success in treating emotionally disturbed children.
Bettelheim subscribed to and became a prominent proponent of the "refrigerator mother" theory of autism — the theory that autistic behaviors stem from the emotional frigidity of the children's mothers — a view which enjoyed considerable influence into the 1960s and 1970s in the United States of America. However, some indications suggest that he later changed his thinking. Bettelheim's 1967 book The Empty Fortress: Infantile Autism and the Birth of the Self, which promoted the "refrigerator mother" theory of autism, enjoyed wide success, especially in the popular press. The book played a key role in ensuring that the "refrigerator mother" theory soon became the accepted explanation for autism in popular culture and, to a considerable extent,...
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