Sullivan: Interpersonal Theory

Harry Stack Sullivan

- Norwich, New York
- February 21, 1892
- as valedictorian at age 16
- he went to St. Elizabeth Hospital in Washington, DC

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

His interpersonal theory emphasizes the importance
of various developmental stages—infancy, childhood,
the juvenile era, preadolescence, early
adolescence, late adolescence, and adulthood.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

Tensions (personality as an energy system)
Energy can exist either as:

- tension (potentiality for action) or as

- actions themselves (energy transformations).

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

 Tensions:

1. NEEDS 2. ANXIETY
USUALLY RESULT IN LEADS TO
PRODUCTIVE ACTIONS NONPRODUCTIVE OR
DISINTEGRATIVE
BEHAVIORS .

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

1. NEEDS

are tensions brought on by biological

imbalance between a person and the
physiochemical environment.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

1.1 TENDERNESS (basic interpersonal need)

- is a general need because it is concerned with the

overall wellbeing of a person, which also include oxygen,
food, and water, are opposed to zonal needs, which arise
from a particular area of the body.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

For example, the mouth satisfies general needs by
taking in food and oxygen, but it also satisfies the zonal
need for oral activity.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

2. ANXIETY
“Anxiety is a tension in opposition to the tensions of
needs and to action appropriate to their relief.”

- it is disjunctive,
- is more diffuse and vague, and
- calls forth no consistent actions for its relief.
SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY
How does anxiety originate?
Sullivan postulated that it is transferred from the parent
to the infant through the process of empathy.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

3. Energy transformations
- transform tensions into either covert or overt behaviors
and are aimed at satisfying needs and reducing anxiety.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

When energy transformations are organized as
typical behavior patterns, similar to traits or habit,
characterizing a person throughout their lifetime,
they are called dynamisms.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

Dynamisms
two classes: (1) related to zonal areas including the
mouth, anus, and genitals; (2) related to tensions which
is composed of three categories—the disjunctive, the
isolating, and the conjunctive.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

a. Disjunctive dynamisms include those destructive
patterns of behavior that are related to the concept
of malevolence,
b. isolating dynamisms include those behavior patterns
(such as lust) that are unrelated to interpersonal
relations; and
c. conjunctive dynamisms include beneficial behavior
patterns, such as intimacy and the self-system.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

Malevolence is the disjunctive dynamism of evil and
hatred, characterized by the feeling of living among one’s
enemies. It originates around age 2 or 3 years when children’s
actions that earlier had brought about maternal tenderness are
rebuffed, ignored, or met with anxiety and pain.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

Lust is an isolating tendency, requiring no other
person for its satisfaction. It manifests itself as autoerotic
behavior even when another person is the object of one’s
lust.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

Intimacy is an integrating dynamism that tends to
draw out loving reactions from the other person, thereby
decreasing anxiety and loneliness, two extremely painful
experiences. Because intimacy helps us avoid anxiety
and loneliness, it is a rewarding experience that most
healthy people desire.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

Self-System a consistent pattern of behaviors that
maintains people’s interpersonal security by protecting
them from anxiety. Like intimacy, the self-system is a
conjunctive dynamism that arises out of the
interpersonal situation

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

Thereafter, any interpersonal experiences that they
perceive as contrary to their self-regard threatens
their security. As a consequence, people attempt to
defend themselves against interpersonal tensions by
means of security operations, the purpose of which is
to reduce feelings of insecurity or anxiety that result
from endangered self-esteem.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

Two important security operations
are dissociation and selective
inattention.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

Dissociation happens when a person does not
allow impulses, desires, and needs into awareness.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

Selective inattention, happens when a person
refuses to see things that they don’t wish to see.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

Throughout the developmental stages of an individual
they acquire certain images of themselves and others
called personifications. These images may be relatively
accurate or grossly distorted.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

Bad-Mother, Good-Mother (others image)
Bad-mother personification grows out of the infant’s
experiences with the bad-nipple: that is, the nipple that
does not satisfy hunger needs. The mothering one may
be the mother, the father, a nurse, or anyone else
involved in the nursing situation.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

Bad-Mother, Good-Mother (others image)
After the bad-mother personification is formed. The
infant will acquire a good-mother personification based
on the tender and cooperative behaviors of the
mothering one.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

Me Personifications (self image)
The bad-me personification is fashioned from
experiences of punishment and disapproval the infants
receive from their mothering one.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

Me Personifications (self image)
The good-me personification results from infants’
experiences with reward and approval.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

Me Personifications (self image)
The not-me personification results from sudden severe
anxiety that forces infants to either dissociate or
selectively inattend experiences related to that anxiety.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

Eidetic Personifications
Not all interpersonal relations are with real people; some
are eidetic personifications: that is, unrealistic traits
or imaginary friends that many children invent in order
to protect their self-esteem.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

Levels of Cognition
- refers to ways of perceiving, imagining, and
conceiving.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

Levels of Cognition
Prototaxic level these are experiences that are
difficult to describe or define because they are beyond
conscious recall.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

Levels of Cognition
Parataxic level these are experiences that are prelogical
and usually result when a person assumes a cause-and-
effect relationship between two events that occur
coincidentally.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

Levels of Cognition
Syntaxic level these are experiences that are
consensually validated, meaning two or more people
agree with the meaning of words, and that can be
symbolically communicated.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

Stages of Development
Sullivan postulated seven crucial epoch or stages of
development. According to him, personality changes
take place during the transition threshold period from
one stage to another. This makes some people
indispensable throughout the development stages.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

Stages of Development
Infancy begins at birth and continues until a child develops
articulate or syntaxic speech, usually at about age 18 to 24
months. Sullivan believes an infant becomes human through
tenderness received from the mothering one.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

The mothering one is undifferentiated wherein infants have a
dual personification of them: the good mother and the bad
mother.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

Stages of Development
Childhood begins at about age 18 to 24 months until about
age 5 or 6 years. This stage marks the advent of syntaxic
language and continues until the appearance of the need for
playmates of equal status.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

During this stage, the mothering one is no longer
undifferentiated. The child has learned to fuse her dual
personification, but still remains on a parataxic level, and
discern the other persons who previously fall under the
“mothering one” image.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

Stages of Development
Juvenile era begins at about age 5 or 6 years until about age
8 ½. This stage begins with the appearance of the need for
playmates and ends when one found a single “chum” to
satisfy their need for intimacy.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

During this stage, children should learn how to compete,
compromise, and cooperate. Cooperation is a critical step in
becoming socialized and is the most important task
confronting children during this stage of development.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

Stages of Development
Preadolescence begins at about age 8 ½ and ends with
adolescence. This stage marks the intimacy with one
particular person of the same gender, age, and status. All
previous friendships are formed based on self-interest.
However, in this stage, a preadolescent takes genuine interest
in the other person. Sullivan called this process as “the quiet
miracle of preadolescence.”
SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY
The outstanding characteristic of this stage is the capacity to
love. The essence of friendship during this stage is of intimacy
and love.

Sullivan believed that preadolescent is the most untroubled

and carefree time of life. Preadolescent experiences unselfish
love without the complication of lust.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

Stages of Development
Early adolescence begins with puberty and ends with the
need for sexual love with one person. It is marked by the
eruption of genital interest and the advent of lustful
relationships.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

The need for intimacy, starting from preadolescence,
continues during early adolescence but is now accompanied
with lust. Aside from lust, anxiety and security also brings
conflict to the young adolescent in three ways:

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

(1) lust interferes with security operations because genital
activity is ingrained with anxiety, embarrassment, and guilt;
(2) intimacy threatens security as when young adolescent seek
intimate friendships with other genders are accompanied with
self-doubt, uncertainty, and ridicule from others; and
(3) lust and intimacy are frequently in conflict during this stage

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

Stages of Development
Late adolescence begins when young people are able to
feel both lust and intimacy toward the same person, and it
ends in adulthood when they establish a lasting love
relationship. Late adolescence embraces the period of self-
discovery.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

The outstanding characteristic of this stage is the fusion of
intimacy and lust. People who were unsuccessful in the
previous stages come into late adolescence with no intimate
interpersonal relations, inconsistent patterns of sexual activity,
and a great need to maintain security operations. They are
often pressured into “falling in love.” However, only mature
person has the capacity to love; others merely go through the
motions of “in love” in order to maintain security.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

Stages of Development
The culmination of all stages is adulthood, a period when
people can establish a love relationship with at least one
significant other person. To Sullivan, adulthood is beyond the
scope of interpersonal psychiatry. Mature adults are perceptive
of other people’s anxiety, needs, and security.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

7 Stages of Development
1. Infancy
2. Childhood
3. Juvenile Era
4. Preadolescence
5. Early adolescence
6. Late adolescence
7. Adulthood
SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY
Psychological Disorders
Sullivan believed that all psychological disorders have an
interpersonal origin and can be understood only with
reference to the patient’s social environment. He also held
that the deficiencies found in psychiatric patients are found in
every person, but to a lesser degree.
SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY
Most of Sullivan’s early therapeutic work was with schizophrenic
patients. He identified two classes of schizophrenia:

(1) organic causes that are beyond the study of interpersonal

psychiatry, and
(2) schizophrenic disorders grounded in situational factors.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

Psychotherapy
Sullivan based his therapeutic process on an effort to improve
a patient’s relationship with others. The therapist serves as a
participant-observer, becoming a part of interpersonal
relationship with the patient and providing patient an
opportunity to establish syntaxic communication with another
human being.
SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY
Although the therapists are participant-observer, they should
avoid getting personally involved with their patients. They do
not place themselves on the same level as their patients; in
fact, they try to convince their patients of their expert abilities.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY

In conclusion, Sullivan was primarily concerned with
understanding patients and helping them improve foresight,
discover difficulties in interpersonal relations, and restore their
ability to participate in consensually validated experiences.

SULLIVAN: INTERPERSONAL THEORY