Posted by Jost on July 19, 2006, at 22:09:53
In reply to Please excuse any over-generalisation » Jost, posted by Declan on July 19, 2006, at 20:20:41
Interesting perspective. Sullivan certainly would have considered how children experience themselves in dynamic relation to others-- of course primarily parents, but also, I would think, the larger social world. He seemed to have been thinking about how social forces shape personality and produce emotional difficulties and was influenced by developments in the social sciences.
I found an old paperback of his "The Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry"-- on the back it lists "The Psychiatric Interview" and "Clincal Studies in Psychiatry"-- I know I've read (or looked through) both at some point, and the latter might be the most clinical --says "Based on lectures given at Chestnut Lodge, this book represents Sullivan the clinician, discussing schizophrenia, the obsessional illnesses, and other mental disturbances." That might have been the one you read.
Chestnut Lodge is a famous private hospital in Maryland, where many well-known analysts of his generation worked-- mostly for treatment of schizophrenia, because at that time, it was believed that analysis could cure psychoses--also the distinctions among various mental illnesses were a bit different, and maybe more blurry-- I think Chestnut Lodge still exists, although its character has probably changed.
There was a lot of discussion, at least a while back, of the "interpersonal field" which is an idea he developed. But interest has, to some extent, shift ed to neuroscientific approaches (I think).
What types of psychoanalysis do you have in Australia?
Jost
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URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20060703/msgs/668450.html