ABSTRACT
It is odd that Sullivan wavered on locating the self-system. If the self is in dynamic equilibrium, maintained by the patient's "dynamisms" and by reRected appraisals, then it is truly in the interpersonal field. The self is maintained by the people who make up the subject's world. If I was bad because Mommy thought I was bad, then I am bad because I not only act bad but because others expect me to act bad, need my badness, inattend my efforts not to be bad, and, moreover, I select them for that, elicit that response from them. If I work with a therapist, he will start by assuring me that I am not bad, but in the fullness of the analysis, he will come to treat me just as the others have.
