Harry Stack Sullivan - The Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry

The International Behavioural and Social Sciences Library

In 5 Volumes

I Psychiatry in Dissent

Anthony Clare

II Psychiatry and Anti-Psychiatry

David Cooper

III Psychiatry in a Changing Society

Edited by S H Foulkes and G Stewart Prince

IV Social Psychiatry

Maxwell Jones, et al.

V The Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry

Harry Stack Sullivan

First published in 1955 by

Tavistock Publications Limited

Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX14 4RN

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group

First issued in paperback 2011

1953 The William Alanson White Psychiatric Foundation

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A CIP catalogue record for this book

is available from the British Library

The Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry

ISBN 978-0-415-26477-8 (hbk)

ISBN 978-0-415-51094-3 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-136-43936-0 (ePub)

Psychiatry: 5 Volumes

ISBN 978-0-415-25614-0

The International Behavioural and Social Sciences Library

112 Volumes

ISBN 978-0-415-25670-4

COPYRIGHT, 1953, BY
THE WILLIAM ALANSON WHITE PSYCHIATRIC FOUNDATION

First Published in Great Britain, 1955
by Tavistock Publications Limited
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon,

Oxon, OX14 4RN

I N THE preparation of this first book from the unpublished lectures of Harry Stack Sullivan, the initial problem was one of selection from the wealth of material which Sullivan left. The most detailed statements of his later conceptual framework are found in five series of unpublished lectures which he gave in the Washington School of Psychiatry, and the William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis, and Psychology, in New York; the sixth series was terminated by his death in 1949. Fortunately, these lectures were recorded, and he also left behind two Notebooks outlining them, the first prepared in 19441945, and a revision dated 19461947. At the suggestion of David Mc Kenzie Rioch, M.D., a friend and colleague of Sullivans, the present book has been limited mainly to a series of lectures which Sullivan gave in the Washington School of Psychiatry in the winter of 19461947, since this series represents the last complete statement which Sullivan made of his conceptions of psychiatry.

Sullivans conceptions were not static; his lectures changed from year to year as his own ideas and formulations unfolded and developed. Yet each series which he gave presented a carefully organized approach to psychiatry via the developmental routethat is, he traced from earliest infancy to adulthood the development of the person, from this study arriving at certain conclusions as to mental disorder in later life. Thus, while the general framework of his thinking remained the same, in each series certain ideas were discarded and certain new ideas were woven in, often intricately. It is for this reason that it has seemed desirable to use his last complete statement as the basis for this book.

A few exceptions have been made, however. We have found it possible, mainly through the use of bracketed footnotes, to incorporate most of the new material which appeared in the unfinished lecture series which he began in 1948. In addition, we have occasionally relied on lectures from earlier years to clarify obscure passages or to enrich sections where the limitations of lecture time had obliged him to refer only hurriedly to ideas which he had elsewhere discussed in detail. We have also had to rely on earlier series to supply a few sections which were lacking be-cause of mechanical failures of recording equipment. But in all such incorporations from other series, we have been guided by the outline in his last Notebook, since we did not wish to include formulations which he had, by 19461947, revised or abandoned, nor did we wish to change the emphasis of his own plan of presentation. All major incorporations of this kind are indicated in footnotes.

There is some difference in style between the earlier and later parts of the book. The chapters which deal with infancy represent, not primarily observations on the human infant, but hypotheses as to what must have occurred in the life of every person during these early months, in view of the given psychobiological equipment of the infant, the order of maturation of abilities, the inevitable impact of the culture, and the data of later life. For these lectures, in which he was often presenting inference rather than observation, Sullivan made full and careful notes, precisely wording many of the postulates which he wished to present; in lecturing, he often read from his Notebook, expanding and explaining it. But in the later lectures, when he was dealing with material that could be supported by observation and might be within the recall of his hearers, he spoke extemporaneously, from only outlined notes. Thus much of the material in the earlier chapters reflects Sullivans writing style, which was at times complex; in the later lectures, Sullivan spoke in a more easy and colloquial vein. In editing the book, we have avoided any change of those statements which have been fully worded by Sullivan in writing. We have, however, had to do more stringent editing and reorganization in those places where Sullivan spoke extemporaneously, for the meaning and emphasis of his spoken statements did not always carry over in written form.

Many students have commented on the importance of Sullivans Notebooks. In this series of lectures, Sullivan included, usually in the same wording, most of the statements which appear in his last Notebook. Where a formulation in this Notebook did not appear in the corresponding lecture, we have usually included it at the appropriate place, provided its omission seemed not to have been intentional. The titles of the Parts and Chapters of this book also conform, with very few changes, to Sullivans Notebook headings. His use of quotation marks has not usually been changed in passages taken from his Notebook; his use of single quotation marks, to indicate special fringes of meaning which he attached to certain words or phrases, is particularly characteristic of all his writings.