Harry Stack Sullivan: An Appliction of His Theory

Clinical Case Study and Application of Sullivan's Interpersonal Theory

Harry Stack Sullivan (1892-1949) presented Interpersonal Theory. For Sullivan the personality is interpersonal and developed through interpersonal relationships. Sullivan is like Freud with his emphasis on life's tragedies. Also like Freud, Sullivan's conception of the self-system resembles certain aspects of Freud's ego. The self-system's main function is to minimize the experience of anxiety which is similar to Freud's ego defense system. Sullivan's self-system includes a set of protective measures that guard against anxiety that are developed in infancy and early childhood. However, unlike Freud, Sullivan believed that anxiety stems from external social forces rather then from unconscious inner conflicts. Thus for Sullivan the development of the personality includes stages of development that are psycho-social. These six stages include: infancy, childhood, the juvenile era, preadolescence, early adolescence, and late adolescence (Hall & Lindzey, 1970).

During infancy, the young child has a limited interpersonal field which includes the infant and the primary caregiver. During childhood (from syntaxic language to the need for playmates) the mother is still the most important interpersonal relationship but children tend to have an imaginary playmate. The juvenile era includes the development of intimacy and skills such as cooperation and compromise. Preadolescence

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tation, Sullivan's Interpersonal Theory can be useful to explain K.C.'s emotional state and behavior. The patient is diagnosed with PTSD and Major Depression with Borderline Personality. This diagnosis and the development of symptoms can be understood within Sullivan's theoretical framework. For Sullivan the individual develops through their interactions with significant others. In this case the patient has a history of abandonment, emotional and sexual abuse, and foster placement. K.C. was abandoned by her mother at age nine years. Up to age nine the patient was physically, emotionally, and sexually abused by her mother and her mother's boyfriends. Until the age of 12 she lived in five foster homes and was then adopted. Her adoptive mother gave birth to a baby girl who K.C. threatened to kill. K.C. had an abortion at 15 years and the adoptive father was suspected to be the baby's father. Thus the patient experienced high levels of anxiety and a threatening environment from an early age and these conditions prevailed throughout her childhood. As Sullivan explains, the self-system includes the individual's collection of self- and other-perceptions. Dynamisms develop as energy transformations organize into behavior

Category: Psychology - H