History and Systems of Psychology – PSY502 VU

Lesson 34

NEO-FREUDIANS
Harry Stack Sullivan
Harry Stack Sullivan was born in 1894 and died in 1949. He was born in United States, Washington
D.C., worked there. He was a physician by training and later became a psychiatrist. Sullivan is considered
one of the prominent Neo-Freudians because of the similarities between his and Sigmund Freud’s theories.
Sullivan was impressed by Freud and Ruth Benedict, the anthropologist, so his point of view
reflects these influences. He put forward the view that a baby feels euphoria because his mother feeds and
protects him, and the baby wants that state to last for the longer time. The mother may convey insecurity by
empathy in him if she is tense herself. So a person’s psyche is the result of interpersonal relationships, the
beginning of which is the relationship of an infant and a mother. Sullivan says that because of interpersonal
relationships, the concept of self develops. He defined three types of self:
‰ “Good me”
‰ “Bad me”
‰ “Not me”
The good me is everything we like about ourselves. It represents the part of us we share with others and
that we often choose to focus on, because it doesn’t produce anxiety. The bad me represents those aspects
of the self that are considered negative and are therefore hidden from others and possibly even from the
self. The anxiety that we feel is often a result of recognition of the bad part of ourselves, such as when we
recall an embarrassing moment or experience guilt from a past action.
The final part of us, called the not-me, represents all those things that are so anxiety provoking that we can
not even consider them a part of us. Doing so would definitely create anxiety which we spend our lives
trying to avoid. The not-me is kept out of awareness by pushing it deep into the unconscious.
He put forward the view that because of our interpersonal relationships we come to have three types of
experiences:
‰ Prototaxic experience
‰ Parataxic experience
‰ Syntaxic experience
Prototaxic Experience refers to the first kind of experience the infant has and the order or arrangement in
which it occurs. Parataxic experiences are felt as concomitant, not recognized as connected in an orderly
way. The child cannot yet relate them to one another or make logical distinctions among them. What is
experienced is assumed to be the 'natural' way of such occurrences, without reflection and comparison.
Since no connections or relations are established, there is no logical movement of 'thought' from one idea
to the next. The parataxic mode is not a step by step process. Experience is undergone as momentary,
unconnected states of being.
The child gradually learns the 'consensually validated' meaning of language - in the widest sense of language.
These meanings have been acquired from group activities, interpersonal activities, and social experience.
Consensually validated symbol activity involves an appeal to principles which are accepted as true by the
hearer. And when this happens, the youngster has acquired or learned the syntaxes mode of experience.

Sullivan stated that there are about seven stages of human development:
1. Infancy
From birth to about age one, the child begins the process of developing, but Sullivan did not emphasize
as much on the younger years as Freud did.
2. The childhood period
This is from infancy to 8 years. In this the child needs supervision, guidance is dependant. The
development of speech and improved communication is the key in this stage.
3. The juvenile era
The main focus as a juvenile is the need for playmates and the beginning of healthy socialization
4. Pre-adolescence; 8 to 12 years

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During this stage, the child's ability to form a close relationship with a peer is the major focus. This
relationship will later assist the child feeling worthy and likable. Without this ability, forming the
intimate relationships in late adolescence and adulthood will be difficult.
5. Early adolescence
This is from 13 to 18 years and this is when peers and teachers influence him. The onset of puberty
changes this need for friendship to a need for sexual expression. Self worth will often become
synonymous with sexual attractiveness and acceptance by opposite sex peers.
6. Adolescence
Stresses and storms of sexuality begin to dominate in this period. The need for friendship and need for
sexual expression 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.
7. Maturity
This is when a person becomes a responsible citizen. The struggles of adulthood include financial
security, career, and family. With success during previous stages, especially those in the adolescent
years, adult relationships and much needed socialization become easier to attain. Without a solid
background, interpersonal conflicts that result in anxiety become more commonplace.
Sullivan’s therapy mainly related to schizophrenia and he discovered that interview was an important tool of
psychotherapy. He used empathy as another tool of psychotherapy.

Karen Horney
Karen Horney was born in 1885 and died in 1952. She was an American psychoanalyst and is classified as a
Neo-Freudian. Horney was a pioneering theorist in personality, psychoanalysis, and feminine psychology.
She got training in psychoanalysis and practiced it for a number of years; in 1937 she broke off
from the orthodox system and established her own theory and practiced it.
She disagreed with Freud on his emphasis on sexuality as the main driving force of human behaviour. She
put forward the view that parental roles can produce basic anxiety in a child and that is one of the main
driving forces in a person. The child sees the world as hostile, and he feels helpless. Childhood’s basic
anxiety appears in later adult life, turning a person into a neurotic. As a result of anxiety the child becomes
aggressive to overcome helplessness and anxiety. His reactions to anxiety and aggression may take the form
of:
o Disguised hostility
o Temper tantrums
o Withdrawal
She calls these reactions neurotic trends. Disguised hostility is the first neurotic trend. Most children facing
parental indifference use this strategy. They often have a fear of helplessness and abandonment, or what
Horney referred to as basic anxiety.
Horney's second neurotic trend is aggression, also called the moving-against solution. Here, children's first
reaction to parental indifference is anger, or basic hostility.
The final neurotic trend is withdrawal, often labeled the moving-away-from or resigning solution. When
neither aggression nor disguised hostility eliminates the parental indifference, Horney recognized that
children attempt to solve the problem by becoming self- sufficient. This represents the neurotic trend of
withdrawal.

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