The Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry

Hardcover. No dust jacket. Good binding and cover. Shelf wear. Text faded from spine. Soiling to front board. Scattered underlining and markings. Harry Stack Sullivan was an American psychiatrist who developed a theory of psychiatry based on interpersonal relationships. He believed that anxiety and other psychiatric symptoms arise in fundamental conflicts between individuals and their human environments and that personality development also takes place by a series of interactions with other people. He made substantial contributions to clinical psychiatry, especially the psychotherapy of schizophrenia, and suggested that the mental functions of schizophrenics, though impaired, are not damaged past repair and can be recovered through therapy. Possessing an extraordinary ability to communicate with schizophrenic patients, he described their behavior with clarity and insight unrivalled at that time.