Conceptions Of Modern Psychiatry The First William Alanson White Memorial Lecture

The central ideas making up Harry Stack Sullivan’s theory of personality find their first expression in this book. Here he set forth his view of psychiatry as the study of interpersonal relations. “Psychiatry,” he wrote, “is the study of processes that involve or go on between people. The field of psychiatry is the field of interpersonal relations under any and all circumstances in which these relations exist. A personality can never be isolated from the complex of interpersonal relations in which the person lives and has his being.” Through his development of the theory of interpersonal relations, Harry Stack Sullivan not only made a vital contribution on the treatment of mental disorder—in particular, schizophrenia—but he opened an entirely new approach to the study of human personality. “The core of Sullivan’s theory,” says Lloyd Frankenberg in the New York Times, “is that people, interacting, shape people....He has evolved an analytic method, for all its subtlety and elaboration, wonderfully coherent, organic and usable.” The influence of Harry Stack Sullivan has had a powerful impact. He has been called one of the half dozen truly great figures in American social psychology, one who has opened new horizons of research and, in the view of many analysist, made the most original contribution to psychiatry since Freud.

"Psychiatry...is the study of processes that involve or go on between people. The field of psychiatry is the field of interpersonal relations, under any and all circumstances in which these relations exist." This is the thesis set forth by Harry Stack Sullivan in Conceptions of Modern Psychiatry--the book that first expressed the central ideas of his theory of personality. Through his development of the theory, he made not only a vital contribution in the treatment of mental disorder--in particular, schizophrenia--but he opened an entirely new approach to the study of human personality. In the view of many analysts, he made the most original contribution to psychiatry since Freud. Roll May has said: "As Freud was the prophet for our schizoid age--our age of unrelatedness, in which, beneath all the chatter of radio and newspapers and all the multitudes of 'contacts', people are often strangers to each other."

Social Science Quotations has been prepared to meet an evident, unmet need in the literature of the social sciences. Writings on the lives and theories of individual social scientists abound, but there has been no fully documented collection of memorable quotations from the social sciences as a whole. The frequent use of quotations in scientific as well as literary writings that are mere summaries or paraphrases typically fail to capture the full force of formulations that have made quotations memorable. This book of quotations invites the further reading or rereading of the original texts, beyond the quotations themselves. Sills and Merton draw extensively upon the writings that constitute the historical core of the social sciences and social thought; those works with staying power often described as the "classical texts." Many quotations have been drawn from these classical texts because the quotations contain memorable ideas memorably expressed. Both consequential and memorable, these words have been quoted over the generations, entering into the collective memory of social scientists everywhere and at times diffusing into popular thought and into the vernacular as well. This book is useful to social scientists, anthropologists, economists, historians, political scientists, psychiatrists, psychologists, sociologists and statisticians, and for all who want to learn or verify memorable formulations and phrases concerning social thought and social theories. It is particularly useful for graduate students taking courses that examine the history of their discipline.

This book covers the works and life of Harry Stack Sullivan (1892–1949), who has been described as "the most original figure in American psychiatry." Challenging Freud’s psychosexual theory, Sullivan founded the interpersonal theory of psychiatry, which emphasizes the role of interpersonal relations, society, and culture as the primary determinants of personality development and psychopathology. This concise and coherent account of Sullivan’s work and life invites the modern audience to rediscover the provocative, ground-breaking ideas embodied in Sullivan’s interpersonal theory and psychotherapy that continue to advance. This revised second edition is updated to reflect new research and ideas - such as an expanded section on Sullivan’s groundbreaking ideas about homosexuality and new sections on his concept of anxiety in infancy and on psychological trauma and how interpersonal theory impacts attachment theory, human sexuality, psychopathology, personality assessment, psychotherapy, and social issues. This book, which has been a primary resource on Sullivan’s works for over 25 years, will continue to be of interest to a range of psychotherapy professionals and practitioners including beginning and experienced psychotherapists, psychological assessment practitioners, interpersonal researchers, and teachers of personality theory.

This book chronicles the conceptual and methodological facets of psychiatry and medical psychology throughout history. There are no recent books covering so wide a time span. Many of the facets covered are pertinent to issues in general medicine, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, and the social sciences today. The divergent emphases and interpretations among some of the contributors point to the necessity for further exploration and analysis.

In Core Concepts in Contemporary Psychoanalysis, alongside its companion piece Core Concepts in Classical Psychoanalysis, Morris N. Eagle asks: of the core concepts and formulations of psychoanalytic theory, which ones should be retained, which should be modified and in what ways, and which should be discarded? The key concepts and issues explored in this book include: Are transference interpretations necessary for positive therapeutic outcomes? Are the analyst’s countertransference reactions a reliable guide to the patient’s unconscious mental states? Is projective identification a coherent concept? Psychoanalytic styles of thinking and writing. Unlike other previous discussions of such concepts, this book systematically evaluates them in the light of conceptual critique as well as recent research-based evidence and empirical data. Written with Eagle’s piercing clarity of voice, Core Concepts in Contemporary Psychoanalysis challenges previously unquestioned psychoanalytic assumptions and will appeal to psychoanalysts, psychoanalytic psychotherapists, and anyone interested in integrating core psychoanalytic concepts, research, and theory with other disciplines including psychiatry, psychology, and social work.