Situating William Stephenson's Psychoanalysis and Q-Method: A Scientific Model for Psychoanalytic Doctrine

Abstract

The aim of this brief Introduction is to situate Psychoanalysis and Q-Method in relation to the context in which it was written, assess its potential relevance to the development of Stephenson’s ideas, and note some of the consequences of the fact that it was not published. The Introduction begins by noting that the manuscript was written in the early 1950s during a remarkable period of productivity in the Chicago Department and that the University of Chicago Press had expressed interest in publishing it provided that some additional single case studies could be added to it to strengthen its evidential base. It points out that following Stephenson’s departure from the Chicago Department, an opportunity had arisen for him to take up a research post at the National Institute for Mental Health in Bethesda, a post that would have enabled him to carry out the necessary single case studies. It is further noted that Stephenson turned down this job opportunity and thus had to put the Psychoanalysis and Q-Method manuscript to one side. His failure to get tenure at Chicago meant that he had to interrupt his academic career and find employment beyond the Academy, in market research and advertising. That interruption led, subsequently, to an appointment as Distinguished Research Professor in Advertising at the renowned School of Journalism, University of Missouri-Columbia.  There, Stephenson had to re-direct his research efforts in relation to the needs of the J-School – in the fields of advertising and communication.  Only in his last decade, following his formal retirement, was Stephenson able to attempt to re-connect with academic psychology.