Harry Stack Sullivan (1892-

1949)
Sullivan asserted
children’s friendships
can offer important
sense of attachment &
security
Friendship patterns can
offer acceptance,
intimacy, & sexual
relations in later life
Friendship is critical for
self-esteem and
confidence in children &
adolescence
 Harry Stack Sullivan
Born – Feb. 21, 1892 in Norwich, New York
The son of a poor farmer – Irish immigrants
He grew up isolated, and was a loner - dropout
Never got married
MD at age 25 from a medical college in Chicago
Psychiatrist at a mental hospital in Maryland
Trained male ward attendants
Innovative treatment of Schizophrenia
Suffered from episodes of Schizophrenia himself
Stressed direct and verifiable observation
Headed the Washington School of Psychiatry
Theories of Personality 3
 Emphases
Characterized loneliness as the most painful of
human experiences
Personality can only be observed in
interpersonal interaction.
 A true “situation-person interactionist”.
first mention of “significant other” in
psychological literature
 Relationship with 2 important people in life
 1. mother
 2. sexual partner
 Research
Sullivan was committed to research, mostly social
research in a psychiatric setting.
 His experimental ward for young schizophrenic
males. “Like Cures Like”
 Schizophrenia can be treated
 The importance of trust
Sullivan's work on interpersonal relationships became
the foundation of Interpersonal Psychoanalysis,
 a school of psychoanalytic theory and treatment that
stresses the detailed exploration of the nuances of patients'
patterns of interacting with others.
 Major Concepts
Tension in a physical energy system
The extremes of tension:
 euphoria versus absolute terror from great
threat to security
2 sources of tension:
 Needs of the body
 Anxiety from threatened security 

interpersonal anxiety
 Need for Tenderness = “relief from various tensions”
 Major Concepts
SELF SYSTEM
a configuration of the personality traits developed in
childhood and reinforced by positive affirmation and
the security operations developed in childhood to
avoid anxiety and threats to self-esteem. OR
a steering mechanism toward a series of I-You
interlocking behaviors; that is, what an individual
does is meant to elicit a particular reaction.
Part of personality born out of influences of
significant others upon one’s feeling of well being.
 Major Concepts
I-You interlocking behaviors  parataxic integrations
When these action-reaction combinations become
rigid & dominate adult’s thinking pattern, the resulting
inaccuracies in judgement  parataxic distortion
Now other persons are perceived or evaluated based
on the patterns of previous experience, with
significant others; similar to Freud's notion of
transference.
Personifications: interpretations of the self and others
 Major Concepts
Only the mothering one can provide
relief in the form of Interpersonal
Security
 “relaxation of the tension of anxiety”
A return to a tranquil, untroubled state
This unique experience is different from
the satisfaction that occurs when
physical needs are met.
 Major Concepts
Self Development
Good care from
Good me,
mother
Bad me, Non supportive care
from mother
Not me
Uncongenial or
ambivalent care
from mother

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 Major Concepts
Personality :

“the relatively enduring pattern of

Theories of Personality 11
HARRY STACK SULLIVAN

Theories of Personality 12
 Empathy
“refers to the peculiar emotional linkage
that exists between the infant and other
significant people – the mother or the
nurse” (1947, p. 8)
Involves the reciprocal role taking seen
in the infant’s expression of need for
tenderness and the mother’s motivation
to provide tenderness.
Theories of Personality 13
 Empathy
Personality doesn’t exist in a vacuum
It is formed through interpersonal
relationships with others
How mother satisfies needs - willingly or not
Relationship with mother since womb -
moods of mother have influence
 ‘mothering one’ —> caregiver
 need for tenderness, love
 anxiety relief - if caring attitude, baby develops
‘good mother’ concept
HARRY STACK SULLIVAN

Theories of Personality 15
 Anxiety & Security
Anxiety: extreme fear of disapproval
 Communicated by empathy to infant
 ‘Bad mother’ to ‘Bad me’
 Beyond infancy, anxiety mobilizes efforts to
reduce it.
 This is the job of the self-system (self-

dynamism).
 Anxiety & Security
Anxiety, tension, well being
unsympathetic behaviour by mothering one -
disapproval etc.
mother may be ill - but child sees her as a
bad mother
if child cries - anxiety is reciprocal
troubled vs. untroubled state

Theories of Personality 17
HARRY STACK SULLIVAN

Theories of Personality 18
 3 Modes of Experience
All experience occurs in one or more of three
cognitive 'modes'-
 Prototaxic:
 Primitve mode of experiences - feelings - pleasant or
unpleasant
 Parataxic:
 the illogical connection of events
 thinking and speech disorganised
 Syntaxic:
 Shares his world with others.
 elementary stage - can talk, run, play - can communicate
 Prototaxic Mode
Refers to the first kind of e x p e r i e n c e the
infant has and the order or arrangement in
which it occurs.
The infant "knows" only momentary states;
the distinction of ‘before’ and ‘after’ a later
acquirement. The infant vaguely feels or
'prehends' earlier and later states without
realizing any serial connection between them.
No awareness of self as an entity
In other words, his felt experience is all of a
piece, undifferentiated,
Theories of Personality without definite
20 limits.
 Prototaxic Mode

5
4
3
2
1
Illustration

Theories of Personality 21
 Parataxic Mode
Now the original undifferentiated wholeness of
experience is broken.
However, the 'parts,' of experience are not related or
connected in a logical fashion.
Various experiences are felt as concomitant, not
recognized as connected in an orderly way.
No connections or relations established; no logical
movement of 'thought' from one idea to the next
Experience is undergone as momentary,
unconnected states of being.

Theories of Personality 22
 Parataxic Mode

5
4
3
2
1
Illustration

Theories of Personality 23
 Syntaxic Mode
The child gradually learns the meaning of
language - acquired from group or
interpersonal activities / social experience.

The direction of development as reflected by

Theories of Personality 24
 Syntaxic Mode
Illustration

1234 5 Theories of Personality 25

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 Developmental Epochs
He believed we pass through stages in a
particular order but the timing of such is
dictated by our social environment.

Throughout our childhood, the mother plays

Three stages were devoted to Adolescence

Theories of Personality 27
 Developmental Epochs
Infancy From birth to about age one,
the child begins the process of
Age birth to 1 year developing, - nourishment -
good / bad mother
energy focused on self
satisfied by mother’s milk
Childhood The development of speech
and improved communication
Ages 1 to 5 is key in this stage of
development. - bowel & bladder
control (Parataxic mode) self
concept - selective inattention
Juvenile The main focus as a juvenile is
the need for playmates and the
Ages 6 to 8 beginning of healthy
socialization
 Developmental Epochs
Preadolescence Here, the child's ability to
form a close relationship
Ages 9 to 12 with a peer is the major
focus. This relationship will
later assist the child in
feeling worthy and likable.
Without this ability, forming
the intimate relationships in
late adolescence and
adulthood will be difficult.
‘chums’ - vent
Early Adolescence The onset of puberty
changes this need for
Ages 13 to 17 friendship to a need for
sexual expression. Self worth
will often become
synonymous with sexual
attractiveness and
 Developmental Epochs
Late Adolescence The need for friendship and
need for sexual expression
Ages 18 to 22 or 23 get combined during late
adolescence. In this stage a
long term relationship
becomes the primary focus.
Conflicts between parental
control and self-expression
are commonplace and the
overuse of selective
inattention in previous
stages can result in a
skewed perception of the
self and the world.
 Developmental Epochs
Adulthood The struggles of adulthood
include financial security,
Ages 23 on career, and family. With
success during previous
stages, especially those in
the adolescent years, adult
relationships and much
needed socialization
become more easy to attain.
Without a solid
background, interpersonal
conflicts that result in
anxiety become more
commonplace.