CHAPTER 8 SULLIVAN MyReviewer
CHAPTER 8 SULLIVAN MyReviewer
CHAPTER 8 SULLIVAN MyReviewer
Chapter 8
Harry Stack Sullivan’s Interpersonal Theory Working with patients with Schizophrenia made him realized
the importance of interpersonal relationships
OVERVIEW Allow sympathetic male attendants without experience treat
schizophrenic patients with human respect and care
People develop their personality within a social context “Clinical wizard”
“Scientific study of interpersonal relations” Zodiac group, Thompson, Ferenczi, Adolf Meyer. William A.
White
Healthy human development: establish both intimacy and lust Despite some Freudian influence on his therapeutic technique,
with the same person Sullivan’s theory of interpersonal psychiatry is neither
psychoanalytic nor neo-Freudian.
Anxiety can interfere with interpersonal relationships at any William Alanson White Psychiatric Foundation in Washington,
age DC. (Journal: Psychiatry)
Washington School of Psychiatry
Preadolescence – most crucial stage; first possess intimacy James Inscoe Sullivan
without lust Not comfortable with his sexuality
Ambivalent feelings toward marriage and Catholic religion
BIOGRAPHY Died: January 14, 1949 Paris
Born: Feb 21, 1892 Norwich New York “Sullivan saw personality as an energy system. Can exist as
Poor Irish Catholic parents; farm life either tension or energy transformation”
2 siblings died before he was born
Taciturn father, protective mother Two kinds of experience—tensions and energy
Raised by grandmother, aunt and mother transformations
Mother was sent to mental hospital
Loner during childhood years TENSIONS
Clarence Bellinger Potentiality for actions
Valedictorian in highschool Can be conscious or unconscious
Suspended 1 year at Cornell University Anxiety, premonitions, drowsiness, hunger and sexual
Mysteriously disappeared in 2 years (treating his excitement (mostly unconscious; distortions of reality if
schizophrenia or spend time with a male model who overcome conscious)
sexual panic and intensified interest in psychology) Two types of tensions: Needs and Anxiety
Finished his medical studies in 1915 but did not receive his
degree until 1917 at Chicago College of Medicine and Surgery NEED
Mysteriously obtain a medical degree with lack of Conjunctive when satisfied
requirements Biological imbalance between a person and the
physiochemical environment
Theories of Personality Reviewer
Chapter 8
Episodic Difference between anxiety and fear:
Originally from biological component but many stems from Anxiety: stems from interpersonal situation, more unconscious,
interpersonal situations No positive value unless transformed into another tension
(anger & fear)
Types of Needs: Fear: Conscious, origins can be pinpointed
1. General Needs – Facilitate overall well-being of a person
Interpersonal (Tenderness, Intimacy, Love) ENERGY TRANSFORMATIONS
Physiological (Food, oxygen, water, etc.) Tensions that are transformed into actions: covert or overt
2. Zonal Needs – May also satisfy general needs Transformation of potential energy into actual energy
Oral (behavior) for the purpose of satisfying needs or reducing
Genital anxiety
Manual
PSYCHOTHERAPY
Improve patient’s relationship with others
Therapist serves as a Participant Observer
Provides the patient an opportunity to establish syntaxic
communication
Sullivan’s therapeutic technique were credited by Eric Fromm
as an evidence that psychosis is not merely a physical
disorder and personal relationships of human beings is the
essence of psychological growth
Aim: Uncovering patient’s difficulties in relating to others
Sullivanian therapists avoid getting personally involved; do not
place themselves on the same level with the patients
They try to convince the patient of their expert abilities
Friendship is not a condition of psychotherapy; remain expert
Schizophrenic patients
2 classes of Schizophrenia:
Originate from organic cause; (beyond the study of
Interpersonal Psychiatry)
Situational Factors (amenable to change through
Interpersonal Psychiatry)