Autism Concept in Autism Spectrum Disorder vs. Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder: Historical Origins and Phenomenological Comparison

This narrative review traces how Bleuler (1911) and Kanner (1943) conceptualized 'autism' differently—as active withdrawal in schizophrenia versus innate social deficits in autism—and examines their recent convergence through shared genetic and cognitive findings. Phenomenological analysis reveals both conditions affect self-experience differently: schizophrenia involves unstable minimal self and hyperreflexivity, while autism shows preserved minimal self with different social-cognitive challenges.