sullivan's interpersonal theory
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
People develop their personality within a social context.
Without other people, humans would have no personality.
Development rests on the individual’s ability to establish intimacy with another person.
Anxiety can interfere with satisfying interpersonal relations.
Overview
Born Feb. 21, 1892 Oldest existing son of poor
Irish Catholic parents Lonely childhood
existence Poor relationship with
father. Close friendship with
Clarence Bellinger. Academically gifted.
Harry Stack Sullivan
Poor academic performance in freshman year at Cornell.
Suffered a schizophrenic breakdown.
Enrolled for Medicine, received degree 2 yrs after graduation.
Work with William Alanson Whte.
Harry Stack Sullivan
Private practice in New York
Zodiac Group His therapy was neither
psychoanalytic nor neo-Freudian.
Died of Cerebral Hemorrhage on Jan. 14, 1949.
Rumors of homosexuality
Harry Stack Sullivan
Personality is an energy system. Tension – potentiality for action Energy Transformations – actions
themselves
Personality
Anxiety, premonitions, drowsiness, hunger, sexual excitement.
Not always on a conscious level
Partial distortions of reality
Two Types: Needs Anxiety
Tension
Tensions brought about by a biological imbalance between the person and environment.
Episodic Biological component and
interpersonal relations. Zonal Needs – arises from a specific body
part. General Needs – over all well being of a
person. Tenderness is a basic interpersonal need.
Needs
Disjunctive, diffuse and vague, call forth no consistent action for relief.
Transferred through empathy. Chief disruptive force blocking the
development of healthy interpersonal relations. Prevents people from learning
from mistakes Persisting pursuance of childish
wish for security Ensures people will not learn from
experience. Its presence is worse than its
absence.
Anxiety
Stems from complex interpersonal relations.
Vaguely represented in awareness
No positive value Blocks satisfaction of needs
Anxiety
Tensions transformed into either overt or covert actions.
Behaviors that satisfy our needs and reduce anxiety.
May be observable or hidden from other people (emotions, thoughts)
Energy Transformations
Tensions transformed into either overt or covert actions.
Behaviors that satisfy our needs and reduce anxiety. May be observable or hidden from other people
(emotions, thoughts) Evolves into dynamisms
Energy Transformations
Traits or habit patterns Major Classes:
Related to specific zones of the bodyMouth, anus, genitals
Those related to tensionsDisjunctive (Malevolence) Isolating (Lust) Conjunctive (Intimacy and Self- System)
Dynamisms
Disjunctive dynamism between evil and hatred.
Feeling of living among one’s enemies
2-3 yrs, when child is rebuffed, ignored, or punished.
Adoption of malevolent attitude for protection.
Timidity, Mischievousness, Cruelty, anti-social behavior.
Malevolence
Assumes an isolating tendency.
Auto-erotic behavior Hinders an intimate
relationship. Increases anxiety and
decreases self- worth.
Lust
Close interpersonal relationship between 2 people of equal status.
Equal partnership Integrating dynamism that draws out loving
reactions from people. Decreases loneliness and anxiety Rewarding experiences most healthy people
desire.
Intimacy
Most complex and inclusive of all dynamisms.
Consistent pattern of behavior that maintains people’s interpersonal security by protecting them from anxiety.
Principal stumbling block to favorable changes in personality.
Security Operations
Self- System
Reduces feelings of anxiety or insecurity. Two kinds:
Dissociation = includes impulses, desires, and needs that a person refuses to allow into awareness. (dreams)
Selective Inattention = refusal to see things that one does not wish to see. (conscious)
Security Operations
People’s images of themselves or others
Begins in infancy and continues throughout development.
Bad mother – good mother Me Eidetic Personifications
Personifications
Refers to ways of perceiving, imagining, and conceiving.
Prototaxic – undifferentiated experiences which are highly personal.
Parataxic – communicated to others in a distorted fashion.
Syntaxic – consensually validated and symbolically communicated.
Levels of Cognition
Stages of DevelopmentStage Age Significant
OtherInterpersonal Process
Learnings
Infancy 0-2 Mother Tenderness Good / Bad
Childhood 2-6 Parents Imaginary Playmates
Syntaxic Language
Juvenile Era 6-8.5
Playmates Living with Peers
Competition, Compromise, Cooperation
Preadolescence
8.5 – 13
Single Chum Intimacy Affection & Respect
Early Adolescence
13 – 15
Several Chums
Intimacy and Lust
Balance, Security Operations
Late Adolescence
15 - Lover Fusion of Intimacy and Lust
Discovery of self & world
All psychological disorders have an interpersonal origin and must be understood with reference to social environment
Deficiencies found in psychiatric patients are found in every person to a lesser degree
Psychological difficulties are not unique, but come from same interpersonal difficulties we all face
Two broad classes of schizophrenia Organic Situational
Psychological Disorders
Therapist is a participant observer who establishes an interpersonal relationship with the patient and provides opportunity for syntaxic communication
Sullivanian therapists attempt to help patients develop foresight, discover difficulties in interpersonal relations, and restore their ability to participate in consensually validated experiences
Psychotherapy