William Alanson White

American psychologist

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William Alanson White was an American psychiatrist who influenced Harry Stack Sullivan's theory of psychiatry. Sullivan believed that psychiatric symptoms arise from conflicts between individuals and their environments, and that personality develops through interactions with others. White extended the principles of Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis to severely ill, hospitalized patients, rather than just neurotics. Psychoanalysis itself is a method for treating mental disorders by analyzing psychic phenomena, often involving patients discussing their experiences, childhood, and dreams.123

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Harry Stack Sullivan
…the influence of the psychiatrist William Alanson White, who extended the principles of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis to the severely ill, hospitalized psychotic, rather than restricting them to the more functional neurotics treated by most Freudian analysts of the time. In his interviews with schizophrenic patients, Sullivan’s uncommon ability in psychoanalysis…
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…the influence of the psychiatrist William Alanson White, who extended the principles of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis to the severely ill, hospitalized psychotic, rather than restricting them to the more functional neurotics treated by most Freudian analysts of the time. In his interviews with schizophrenic patients, Sullivan’s uncommon ability in psychoanalysis…
Read More