A Harry Stack Sullivan Case Seminar

Among clinicians, Harry Stack Sullivan is probably best known for his early work with schizophrenics at the Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital in Maryland. The seminar presented here is the richest clinical illustration available both of Sullivan’s perceptivity about schizophrenia and of his ability as a teacher.

This five-session seminar, organized during 1946-47 for the psychiatric residents at Sheppard-Pratt, specifically covered the case of a young male schizophrenic who was being treated by Dr. Robert Kvarnes, then a participating resident. Each session included the case presentation by Dr. Kvarnes, the posing of a discussion question by Sullivan, his exchanges with the participants, and his extended closing comments on major clinical issues. The publication of this seminar provides a demonstration of Sullivan at work as a teacher. His unusual sensitivity to young male schizophrenics and his delicacy in perceiving and reacting to anxiety in therapeutic interactions are reflected in the seminar.

The contemporary discussions, conducted by Dr. Kvarnes, now director of the Washington School of Psychiatry, Washington, D.C., follow each of the original seminar sessions, consider the seminar content itself, and show the differences that twenty-five years have made in the various trends in therapy and in salient social programs. Also included is additional historical material about the seminar the participants, and Sullivan.

Neil S. Jacobson, PhD, was professor of psychology at the University of Washington until his death in 1999.