ABSTRACT
One frequently noted deficiency in psychiatric formulations is the failure to incorporate social processes into the dynamics of mental disorder. Although the importance of these processes is increasingly recognized by psychiatrists, the conceptual models used in formulating research questions are basically concerned with individual rather than social systems. The psychoanalytic model of neurosis is basically a system of behavior that is contained within the individual. The external situation in which the individual is involved is seen only as an almost limitless source of triggers for a fully developed neurotic conflict within the individual. To bring the individual systemic character of psychoanalytic theory into high relief, it's instructive to contrast it with Marxian theory, which is social systemic. The failures of Marxian theory are not as important as the general form it takes. The form of his theory provides an example of a social systemic model that does not include any aspects of individual systems of behavior.
