Harry Stack Sullivan

Herbert "Harry" Stack Sullivan (February 21, 1892 – January 14, 1949) was an American psychiatrist whose work in psychoanalysis was based on direct and verifiable observation (versus the more abstract conceptions of the unconscious mind favored by Sigmund Freud and his disciples). His emphasis was more on the social aspects of personality. Along with Clara Thompson, Karen Horney, Erich Fromm, and Erik H. Erikson, Sullivan laid the groundwork for understanding the individual based on the network of relationships in which he or she is enmeshed. He developed a theory of psychiatry based on interpersonal relationships where cultural forces are largely responsible for mental illnesses. In his words, one must pay attention to the "interactional", not the "intrapsychic". This search for satisfaction via personal involvement with others led Sullivan to characterize loneliness as the most painful of human experiences. He also extended the Freudian psychoanalysis to the treatment of patients with severe mental disorders, particularly schizophrenia.

Life

Herbert "Harry" Stack Sullivan was born on February 21, 1892 in Norwich, New York, a child of Catholic Irish immigrants. Harry grew up in a rural New York Protestant community known for its intense prejudice toward the Irish. He was the only son of a poor uncommunicative Irish farmer and an extremely unhappy, complaining mother who was reported to show her son little affection. Later in life he wrote:

I escaped most of the evils of being an only child by chief virtue of the fact that mother never troubled to notice the characteristics of the child she had brought forth. And her son was so different from me that I felt she had no use for me except as a clothes horse on which to hang an elaborate pattern of illusions.

It has been written that as a child, Sullivan's closest friends were the farm animals, with whom he felt comfortable and less lonely (Chatelaine 1991). Sullivan's childhood experience of social isolation and loneliness might have been the incentive for his later interest in psychiatry. His keen self-awareness contributed to his later work Schizophrenia as a Human Process which explored the impact of personal experience upon the development of mental illness. Although he was a superior student in grade and high school, he had no friends and turned to books for companionship. Again, his writings about the pre-adolescent and adolescent stages reflect the powerful insights of his own personal experience.

After graduating high school he attended Cornell University for one year, at the end of which, in 1909, he was rumored to have suffered some kind of mental breakdown, possibly a psychotic episode.

In 1911, he enrolled in the Chicago College of Medicine and Surgery, receiving his medical degree in 1917. During the following years practicing psychiatry, he was introduced to psychotherapy by Adolf Meyer, and applied these ideas to the treatment of schizophrenia. Later, he elaborated his work into a theory of personality, working with social scientists of diverse backgrounds, including ethnolinguist Edward Sapir.

Sullivan died in a hotel room in Paris, France in 1949, while attending a conference. He was 57.

Work

Schizophrenia

Theory of Personality Development

Besides making the first mention of the "significant other" in psychological literature, Sullivan developed the Self System, a configuration of the personality traits developed in childhood and reinforced by positive affirmation and the security operations developed in childhood to avoid anxiety and threats to self-esteem. Sullivan further defined the Self System as a steering mechanism toward a series of I-You interlocking behaviors; that is, what an individual does is meant to elicit a particular reaction. Sullivan called these behaviors "parataxic integrations," and he noted that such action-reaction combinations can become rigid and dominate an adult's thinking pattern, limiting his actions and reactions toward the world as the adult sees it and not as it really is.

Sullivan's work on interpersonal relationships became the foundation of interpersonal psychoanalysis, a school of psychoanalytic theory and treatment that stresses the detailed exploration of the nuances of patients' patterns of interacting with others.

Another important distinction between Sullivan and Freud is around the concept of anxiety. While Freud believed anxiety represented internal conflict between the id and the superego, Sullivan saw anxiety as existing only as a result of social interactions. Sullivan described techniques, similar to Freud's defense mechanisms, that provide a way for people to reduce social anxiety.

Selective Inattention

Sullivan believed that mothers express their anxiety about raising their children in a variety of ways. The child has no understanding or way to deal with this and so feels the anxiety himself. Selective inattention is a response to this, as the child begins to ignore or reject the anxiety, or any interaction that could produce uncomfortable, anxious feelings. Later as adults, this technique is used to focus our minds away from stressful situations.

Personifications

As a result of social interactions and selective attention or inattention, individuals develop "Personifications" of themselves and others, according to Sullivan. Defense mechanisms reduce anxiety but they can also cause a misperception of realty. Personifications are mental images that help us understand ourselves and the world.

Sullivan described three basic ways we see ourselves, which he called the "bad-me," the "good-me," and the "not-me." The "bad-me" consists of the aspects of the self that one considers negative and therefore hides from others, and possibly even the self. This is sometimes called the "shadow," particularly in Carl Jung's system. Anxiety can result from recognizing the bad part of ourselves, for example, when remembering an embarrassing moment or experiencing guilt from a past action.

The "good-me" is all that seems positive and that we like about ourselves. This is the part we share with the world because it produces no anxiety. The "not-me" part represents the aspects of ourselves that are so anxiety-provoking that we reject them as a part of us. The "not-me" is hidden from our awareness by pushing it deep into the unconscious.

Developmental epochs

In a similar fashion to Freud, Sullivan maintained that childhood experiences are a large contributor to the adult personality, the mother playing the most significant role. He differed from Freud in his belief that the primary significance of the parent-child relationship was not predominantly sexual, but rather an early quest for security by the child. He also believed that the personality can continue to develop past adolescence and even well into adulthood.

He called these stages "developmental epochs," which occur in a particular order but their timing is determined by our social environment. The majority of focus revolved around the conflicts of adolescence, and many of adulthood problems arise from the turmoils of adolescence. The developmental epochs are:

Infancy (birth to 1 year)
Childhood (1-5)
Juvenile (6-8)
Preadolescence (9-12)
Early Adolescence (13-17)
Late Adolescence (18-22 or 23)
Adulthood (23 on)

Legacy

Although well recognized by many, Sullivan never acquired as much substantial reputation as many of his peers later did. Several well known personality theories have their origins in the work of Sullivan. Carl Rogers founded his theory on Sullivan's idea that the self-concept is a sociological product. Sullivan's theory of the stages of human development preceded Erik Erikson's theory of the stages of life. Sullivan was one of the founders of the William Alanson White Institute, considered by many to be the world's leading independent psychoanalytic institute, and of the journal Psychiatry in 1937. He headed the Washington School of Psychiatry from 1936 to 1947.

Although Sullivan published little in his lifetime he influenced generations of mental health professionals, especially through his lectures at Chestnut Lodge in Washington DC. Leston Havens called him the most important underground influence in American psychoanalysis. His ideas were collected and published posthumously, edited by Helen Swick Perry, who also published a detailed biography in 1982 (Perry, 1982, Psychiatrist of America).

Publications

Sullivan, H.S. (1953). The interpersonal theory of psychiatry. New York: Norton. ISBN 1425424309

Sullivan, Harry Stack. (1955). Conceptions of Modern Psychiatry: First William Alanson White Memorial Lectures. London: Tavistock Publications. ISBN 1425424309

Sullivan, H. S. (1962). Schizophrenia as a Human Process. New York: W. W. Norton & Co. ISBN 0393007219

Sullivan, H. (1964). The Fusion of Psychiatry and Social Science. New York: W. W. Norton & Co. ISBN 0393006034

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

Chatelaine, K.L. (2003). "Harry Stack Sullivan: The Clinician and the Man" inPortraits of Pioneers in Psychology Kimble, G.A. & M. Wertheimer eds. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. ISBN 0805844147

Crowley, R.M. (1980). "Cognitive elements in Sullivan's theory and practice," J. Amer. Acad. Psychoanal., 8:115-126.

Crowley, R.M. (1981). "Harry Stack Sullivan as social critic," J. Amer. Acad. Psychoanal., 9:211-226

Cullander, C. (1984). "Review of Psychiatrist of America. The Life of Harry Stack Sullivan"., Psychoanal. Q., 53:131-134.

Perry, H. (1982). Psychiatrist of America. The Life of Harry Stack Sullivan., Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press.

Schulz, C.G. (1987). "Sullivan's influence on Sheppard Pratt," J. Amer. Acad. Psychoanal., 15:247-254

External links

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

Harry_Stack_Sullivan ^history

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

History of "Harry Stack Sullivan"

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.