Sullivan's Approach to Inner Psychotic Experiences: A Case Illustration

Harry Stack Sullivan's concept of interpersonal psychiatry has been recognized as a landmark in the American psychoanalytic movement, in particular his influence on the development of object-relations theory. He is an influential figure in interpreting the inner experiences of persons with schizophrenia. Psychotic experiences represent a failure of one's self-system and the dissociation dynamism. Delusions and hallucinations are experiences in lost control of self-awareness. The person regresses to dreams or experiences from infancy and childhood in facing spontaneous conflicts and anxiety in interpersonal transaction. As a result, the tripartite self-system is fractured. In this paper, the writer applies Sullivan's concept in interpreting the inner psychotic experiences of a client with schizophrenia. Its implication for clinical social work practice is also discussed.