Reflections on Sullivan and the Language of Psychiatry

The opportunity to participate in this Memorial Symposium for Dexter M. Bullard, Sr., is an honor I greatly appreciate. It allows me to review a few questions, problems, and concepts we "hashed over," so to speak, on weekend afternoons at his house on the Severn or at Rose Hill. I miss Dexter, his welcome, and his pragmatic assessment of people, events, and ideas. Inevitably at times we discussed that controversial figure Harry Stack Sullivan, whom we both regarded as a very good friend during his life. I would like here to reflect a bit on some of Sullivanʹs attempts to contribute to a "scientific" psychiatry, and on some of the language problems involved in all such attempts.