Posted by Jost on July 18, 2006, at 22:24:52
In reply to Re: William? Harry?, posted by Declan on July 18, 2006, at 21:32:26
He doesn't seem to be discussed much now, but was a very influential Psychoanalyst, even though not as well known outside the profession. Right now, I can't think of the name of his most-read books.
He's pretty interesting intellectual, and definitely in terms of the history of Psychoa in the US. Aalong with others such as Clara Thompson and Erich Fromm, he founded the William Alanson White Institute and provided its original intellectual framework. WA White is the oldest and most important non-medical Psychoanalytic institute in the US.
For a long time, only MDs, ie psychiatrists, were accepted for study at analytic institutes, which were run in affiliation with the American Psychoanalytic Assn., which was the prime certifying organization for psychoanalysis in the US. Now the New York Psychoanalytic, and most analytic institutes, accept psychologists and some social workers and PsyDs also. But that's an amazingly recent development. But for the longest time, only White was accepting non-MDs.
I haven't read anything by or about Sullivan that I recall, for years. He rejected most of Freud's ideas, such as the unconscious, and drives, and esp. believed that the interpersonal, as opposed to the intrapsychic, was the primary locus, as well as potential source of help, in psychological problems. That's where his ideas about detailed inquiry came from-- you didn't have to get into someone's head-- you needed to know what happened, how, when, with whom.
But American intellectuals--like most intellectuals---had a romance with Freud's ideas, which put Sullivan and his ideas into a shadow--although they're very important for the practice of Psychoa. in the US. esp.
Jost
poster:Jost
thread:667935
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20060703/msgs/668171.html