Is Timothy Leary as well known for any academic psychology as he is for promoting the use of LSD?

-- John Zimny (epistemite@aol.com), October 15, 2003

Answers

Indeed he is. When Leary was a new Ph.D., he became the Director of Psychological Research at the Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Oakland, CA, where he took over a research project begun by Hubert S. Coffey and Saxton Pope. This work culminated in the publication of Leary's Interpersonal Diagnosis of Personality: A Functional THeory and Methodology for Personality Evaluation (John Wiley & Sons, 1957). This book is a classic in the field of interpersonal psychology, and is widely cited even today by interpersonal theorists. The Leary Interpersonal Checklist is still used in clinical practice and research, although Leary's model has been replaced by several more complex interpersonal models. A literature search using Leary's name and/or the phrase "interpersonal psychology" will lead you to this excellent work. One of Leary's most astute observations, in application of the interpersonal principle of complementarity, is that in a relationship the more disturbed person has the greater power. Leary's contributions are assessed in Robert Carson's classic Interaction Concepts of Personality (Aldine, 1969)--Carson's book is a wonderful summary of work in the field up to the late 1960s. One of the most brilliant contemporary versions of an interpersonal model is Lorna Benjamin's. Her book on Interpersonal Diagnosis and Treatment of Personality Disorders (2nd edition, Guilford, 1996) "corrects" some of the deficits in Leary's early model. Although much has been done to modify Leary's early model, his colleagues respected him enough to dedicate a special symposium to him at the last APA convention before his death. His contributions to interpersonal psychology no doubt will be remembered longer than his foray into psychedelic drugs.

-- Hendrika Vande Kemp (hendrika@earthlink.net), October 16, 2003.

Timothy Leary's astute observation that the more disturbed person has the greater power, was a direct consequence of the fact that he forced his own children to ingest psychedelic drugs and to experience the resulting emotional traumas. One ought not celebrate either the memory nor the writings of such a monster.

-- visualize me (visualizeme@webtv.net), October 17, 2003.

Response to visualizeme:

When a "factual" question is asked, it is best to limit yourself to factual answers. Your posting is "opinion." If you have a reputable source for your assertion about Leary's personal behavior, share that source with us--internet chat rooms do not count as reliable sources. Your posting is not merely questionable, but definitely false in the assertion of the source of the theory, which came from fine research done under the grant. Leary did not himself begin to experiment with psychedelic drugs until 1960, long after the completion of the research that formed the foundation for the 1957 book. On p. 126 he writes "the sicker you are the more power you have to determine the relationships you have with others" and explicates this in terms of the theorem of reciprocal emotions/law of interpersonal complementarity. The power comes from the rigidity of interpersonal relationships--if my behavior is totally rigid, it is difficult for you to resist the interpersonal pull. This principle is deeply embedded in later theories. Lorna Benjamin, for example, would argue essentially that a personality disorder is in essence a rigid interpersonal pattern of behavior.

Leary first experimented with LSD in 1963, and his role as a leader of the counterculture is not in question. No matter what he may have done after that, to himself or his children or his followers, his behavior does not negate the "truth" of his theory. The process of becoming a "scientific" psychologist requires that you learn to assess theories based on empirical data without involving your personal feelings about and reactions to the investigator involved.

-- Hendrika Vande Kemp (hendrika@earthlink.net), October 18, 2003.

I have no answer but a question. I am looking for a picture of the Rose of Leary, I thought I saw it once in the book of Carson. A big rose with lots of text in it. More open behaviour in the middle, more extreme behaviour at the outside. On the same page also two small roses with a typical mother and son interaction, as I remember well. Could it be possible that you know what I mean? And if so, I should be so grateful if you could scan this page for me. I urgently need it and am looking for it already for a long time. Warm greetings, Renée - psychotherapist

-- Renée Oudijk (renoudijk@hetnet.nl), August 26, 2004.

Have you seen the website at http://www.xs4all.nl/~gjvanoel/zelftest/engels/ ?

-- Christopher Green (cgreen@chass.utoronto.ca), September 02, 2004.