This essay draws on evidence in a late nineteenth-century court case and surviving medical notes to provide a case study of a hitherto unidentified case of Autism Spectrum Disorder. The case is particularly interesting in that it not only appears to be the first identification of historical ASD in a female, but also because the patient subsequently developed symptoms of psychosis suggestive of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. The unusual survival of detailed medical notes also throws light on the ways in which a difficult patient was treated by supposedly enlightened pioneers of psychiatry.

中文翻译：

---

达勒姆夫人的“精神错乱”

本文利用 19 世纪晚期的一个法庭案件中的证据和幸存的医学笔记，提供了一个迄今为止尚未确定的自闭症谱系障碍病例的案例研究。该案例特别有趣，因为它不仅似乎是女性历史 ASD 的首次鉴定，而且因为患者随后出现了暗示精神分裂症或分裂情感障碍的精神病症状。详细的医学笔记的不同寻常的幸存下来也揭示了一个困难的病人是如何被所谓的开明的精神病学先驱治疗的。