ABSTRACT

From the interpersonal perspective, the sexual impulses of the child are not denied, but they are not the source of the problem. The child will become anxious if the father is anxious. Anxiety for Sullivan is an interpersonal event, a disruption in empathy. The father will become anxious if he is frightened by the child's feeling or his own seductiveness. Some obfuscation of this exchange will then occur. For example, the little girl wiggles on Daddy's lap. He suddenly becomes irritated and says, "Get off my lap if you can't sit still! Why must you jump around so!" The child is hurt but also mystified.