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JOHN CHYNOWETH BURNHAMFoundations'Fund forResearch in Psychiatry

Psychiatry,sychologyndtheProgressive ovement

RECENT INTERPRETATIONS HAVE MADE THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT OF THEpre-1917 raone ofthemost nterestingopics nAmericanhistory.Muchofthisnewscholarship epresentshesearchof modern iberalsfortheirownpolitical identity. urrently morethoroughgoingeinterpretationis being undertakenby a group of historianswho are studying ocialcontrolas the Progressives isualized it and put it into action.1Thislatestresearchon Progressivismanges far beyond what is essentiallypoliticalhistory.A studyof the two professions ealing with the human psyche,psy-chiatry nd psychology, eforeWorld War I, contributes o a broaderview of Progressivismy suggesting he hypothesis hat the Progressivemovementwas not limitedto politics,economicsand social philosophy,but pervadedall of theendeavorsofmiddle-classAmericans. f thephy-siciansand scientists f themind wereprototypical,n examinationofthe rest of national life-as it is ordinarily ubdivided-will also showthat earlytwentieth-centurymericans n theiroccupationsand othersocial capacitiesoperatedon "Progressive" ssumptions r at leastwereaware of the relevanceof theiractivitiesto "Progressive"ends.2 Thebasis for thehypothesiss the striking actthatreformersn psychiatryand psychologyharedwith reformersn politicsand economics set ofsocial assumptions hat ndentifiedhem ll as Progressives.

From themore traditionalresearchon the subjectwe alreadyknowthesuppositions f Progressivism.he essenceof the movementwas the1For a partial treatmentof social control, see Stow Persons, American Minds,A History of Ideas (New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1958), chap. xxv, and Henry F.May, The End ofAmericanInnocence,A Studyof the First Years of Our Own Time,1912-1917 New York: AlfredA. Knopf, 1959),pp. 154-58.2 Each area also had its conservativesanalogous to Aldrich and Taft.


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458 AmericanQuarterly"firm elief thatto a considerabledegreeman could make and remakehis ownworld."3Althoughthe Progressives id not all believe thatmanis inherentlyood,they greedat leastthat thehumanbeing smalleable.The responsibility or the ills of theworld rested, herefore,argelyorentirely pon thesocial environmentn whichthe individual lived.4Al-thoughmodem environmentalism rewout of Darwinian thinking, heProgressiveselievedthat man could changehis own environmentnd soreconstructothsocieties nd individuals.5The most elusive element n the basic social thinking f the Progres-siveswas-who should tamperwiththe environmentnd so foreordainthe fatesof his fellowmen? It turnedout, inevitably, hat the Progres-sives themselveswere to be the self-appointedrbiters f man's destiny.They wereable, literateand largelyprofessional roups,accustomed totherole ofleadershipand, like Theodore Roosevelt,unafraid of t.6The Progressiveswere consciouslymotivatedby altruism.Directionwas to come from he Man of Good Will who had transcended is owninterests; e governedbyright fhis moral superiority.7he Calvinisticbackground f many Progressivesndicateda directrelationship s wellas an analogy betweenProgressiveeadershipand thestewardship f theelect. Social responsibilitynspired in many Progressives feelingofguiltforall of theevil thata faulty ocietyhad caused,and thesophisti-cated withNew England consciences quated righteousnesswithsocialreform.8

3 George E. Mowry,The Era of Theodore Roosevelt,1900-1912 (New York: Harper &Bros., 1958),pp. 17-18, 37.4 Ibid., pp. 49-51. David W. Noble, The Paradox of ProgressiveThought (Minne-apolis: University f Minnesota Press, 1958), summarizes the views of the high priestof Progressivism,Herbert Croly, on the subject, p. 62.5Eric F. Goldman, Rendezvous with Destiny, A History of Modern AmericanReform (New York: AlfredA. Knopf, 1952), p. 94; Mowry,Era of Theodore Roosevelt,p. 50. Such thinkingwas not far distant from other doctrinesof the times, such asan economic interpretation f history.6 Richard Hofstadter,The Age of Reform,From Bryan to F. D. R. (New York:Alfred A. Knopf, 1955), has been pre-eminent n suggestingas a major factor inProgressivismthe changing status of certain middle-class groups, chap. iv; andMowry,Era of Theodore Roosevelt, has documented the middle-classnature of Pro-gressive eadership, pp. 85 ff. (Psychiatrists nd psychologists n general belonged tothis dominant part of the middle class.) The Progressive eliance on the executive andthe cult of the strongman were notable contemporaneousdevelopments; ibid., p. 88;Goldman, Rendezvous with Destiny, p. 80; Noble, Paradox of Progressive Thought, p.74. Even the Progressives'faith in democracywas dependent upon their providing aproper environmentfor that democracy. See the sophisticateddiscussion of Progres-sivism in May, End of American Innocence, pp. 21-29.7 Hofstadter, Age of Reform, p. 258; compare the summary in Mowry, Era ofTheodore Roosevelt, pp. 104-5.8 Ibid., p. 87; Hofstadter,Age ofReform,pp. 204-6,208-12.


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460 American Quarterlyconstructive ntellectual and emotional environment, specially in thetreatment f what we would now call neuroticdiseases."Strictorganicistswho believed that insanitywas caused by heredity,alcohol and syphiliswere not necessarily utsideofthe Progressivemove-ment. There were reformgroups dedicated to the elimination of thebaneful effects f all three. The eugenics movement, dvocating thesterilization finsane,defective nd criminalpersons n orderto improvethe race, represented he Progressive ttemptto deal with thatpart ofman whichwas notmalleable.'2 Many psychiatristsupported heeffortsof the prohibitionistso removefromcommercewhat theyregarded associal poison. And one of the lasting reformsof Progressivismwaseffected y the crusaders manyof themphysicians)who opposed bothprostitutionnd promiscuity ith thepowerful rgument hatonly pre-ventioncould controlvenereal diseases.'3 These weretypicalProgressivereformmovements, ut Progressive sychiatristsought heirfinest-andmostfundamental-battles n the name of psychotherapy.Basically the physicianswho employedor advocatedpsychotherapynany of its many formswereunwillingto accept the pessimistic ttitudeof current sychiatrynd neurology.Under the competitive ressure fChristianScience and otherfaithcuresthat weredemonstrably ffective,thesephysicians gnoredmaterialism nd undertookto cure patientsbywhatevermethod worked. Effectivepsychotherapy equired hope-indeed, faith n the patient's abilityto cure himself.C. P. Oberndorf,one of thefirst sychoanalytic sychotherapistsn the United States, aterattributedhis earlysuccesses n treatment o his enthusiasm nd to hisconfidencen the new toolswithwhichhe worked. Othersusing quitedifferent ethods fpsychotherapyikewise howedan optimism hatsetthemapart fromconservativesn the psychiatric rofession.14

11 See Walter Bromberg,Man Above Humanity,A Historyof Psychotherapy Phila-delphia: J. B. LippincottCo., 1954),chap. viii.12 Mark Hughlin Haller, "American Eugenics: Heredity and Social Thought, 1870-1930" (Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, 960), especially pp. 4, 157-58,shows howProgressives' assumptions of environmentalismdid not deter them from support-ing the eugenics movement.13 For somewhat different iews, see Louis Filler, Crusaders for American Liberal-ism (2d ed., Yellow Springs, Ohio: Antioch Press, 1950), chap. xxii, and HaroldUnderwood Faulkner, The Quest for Social Justice,1898-1914 (New York: The Mac-millan Co., 1931), pp. 159-62.14C. P. Oberndorf,A History of Psychoanalysis in America (New York: Grune& Stratton, 1953), p. 152. E.g., see the revealing paper, Charles W. Burr, "The Pre-vention of Insanity and Degeneracy,"American Journal of Insanity, LXXIV (1917),409-24, nd especiallythe discussion,422-23.


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Psychiatry nd ProgressiveMovement 461The basis forthe new hope was the convictionthat an individual'sbehavior was determined-to a large extent-by his environment.ABoston physician n 1909 definedpsychoneuroticsas people who, forone reason or another, re not well adapted to theirenvironment."Theconclusion was obvious; as one psychiatrist bserved in 1911, "If themental habitsand the surroundingsf an individual are largelyrespon-siblefor he onset of a psychosis, e can look forward o accomplishmentswhichmayrival the success chieved n thecrusade gainst uberculosis."5The psychotherapists'rimaryobjective became, then, to re-educatethepatient so that he adapted himself o his environment,djusted him-selfto therealitythat surroundedhim. Thoughtfulphysicians uickly

perceived that the largest part of the environment hat required thepatientto changehis conductwas thesocietynwhichhe lived, ncludinghis family.A New York asylumsuperintendent eported n 1913 that"The patient s no longer regarded imply s a separateindividual,butalso as a social unit,whose cure cannot be considered ompleteuntil hehas been restoredto social adaptabilityand efficiency."'IOt the sametimephysicians aw the possibility f alteringnot just the patient butalso his environment.Since the important nvironmentwas social, theforward-looking sychiatrists ound themselvescommitted to socialmeliorism,nd therefore ereProgressivesndeed.'7The environment f childrenwas especiallya targetfor the social-reformersychiatrists. nder theinfluence fearlyFreudian ideas, theyasserted hat childhoodexperienceswereofoverwhelmingmportance nlater ife. The most nfluential f thesepsychiatristsas William Healy,a conventionally rainedspecialist n nervousand mentaldiseases,whogave up his practice (at considerablesacrifice) n 1909 to work withjuvenile delinquents n Chicago. Through his own experiencewiththemotivations f youthful awbreakers,Healy came to a strongly sycho-analyticpointof view. His works richly llustratedwith nterestingasehistories)persuadeduntold numbersof personsthat favorablechanges

15Richard C. Cabot, "The Analysis and Modification of Environment,"Psycho-therapy, II, No. 3 (1909), 5. James V. May, "The Modern Trend of Psychiatry,"InterstateMedical Journal,XVIII (1911), 1098.16E.g., see the systematic work of Morton Price, "The Subconscious Setting ofIdeas in Relation to the Pathologyof the Psychoneuroses,"The Journal of AbnormalPsychology,XI (1916), 1-18. William L. Russell, "The Widening Field of Practical Psy-chiatry,"American Journal of Insanity, LXX (1913), 460. E.g., William A. White,The Principles of Mental Hygiene (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1917), p. 316.17 E.g., C. C. Wholey, in The Journal of the American Medical Association,LXII(1914), 1036. Thomas W. Salmon, "Some New Fields in Neurology and Psychiatry,"The Journal ofNervousand Mental Disease, XLVI (1917),90-99.


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462 American Quarterlyin the social environments f youngsters ould preventdelinquency ndpromotenot only mental health but social progress.18The presumptuousness f psychiatristsn deciding how the worldshould be run was not different rom that of other Progressives.LikeDr. George Van Ness Dearborn of Boston, physicians ppealed to "thesound principle of noblesse oblige." Moreover, as doctors theydealtwithmatters f life and death,and as psychotherapistsn daily practicethey ndertook o interferen and change the attitudes nd waysof ifeoftheirpatients. They were,therefore,ccustomed o the responsibilitiesfleadership. As earlyas 1907 E. W. Taylor of Boston pointed out thattherole of the physicianwas expandingand thathe had to look after heso-cial as well as the physicalwelfare fhis patients. He was becoming, aidLewellysBarkerofJohnsHopkins,the"moraldirector" fhispatients.19A number f theorieswereusedbythepsychotherapistsn rationalizingtheirattempts o recastthe world. A New York neurologistwho advo-cated a typeof psychotherapyalled suggestionproposed in 1912 thatphysicians ombat the psychic nfections f civilization-noxious sugges-tion-with psychotherapy,hat s,with uggestion hatwould fosterwhathe believedto be the better ulturalelements surely n ambiguousgoalfor ocial control).20MostAmericanswere notstrong n systematics,ndhope sufficedo nourishmanyof theiropinions; only those who usedthemostradical of thepsychotherapies,sychoanalysis,nvoked a fairlyconsistent heory o justify heirreformism.2'The psychoanalysts,hosealleged commitment o a so-called"sexual"

18 E.g., William Healy, The Individual Delinquent: A Text-Book of Diagnosis andPrognosis for All Concerned in UnderstandingOffenders (Boston: Little, Brown &Co., 1915); William Healy, Mental Conflicts nd Misconduct (Boston: Little, Brown& Co., 1917), especally chap. xvii. Healy's case affordsevidence of a situation inwhich political Progressiveshad a direct influenceon the developmentof psychiatry.In an interviewwith the writerDr. Healy remarked that the method of studyingchildren (integrating medical, social, psychometricand psychiatric studies of asingle individual) which yielded him such rich results was suggested in large partby a group of social reformers ssociated with Hull House and led by Jane Addamsand Julia Lathrop, two of the best-knownProgressives. The Hull House reformersfound financial support for the work and invited Healy to undertake it.19 George Van Ness Dearborn, The Influence of Joy (Boston: Little, Brown & Co.,1916), p. 35. E. W. Taylor, "The Attitude of the Medical ProfessionToward thePsychotherapeuticMovement,"Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, CLVII (1907),845-46. Lewellys F. Barker, "On the Psychic Treatment of Some of the FunctionalNeuroses," International Clinics, I (17th ser., 1907), 13, 15, 17.20 George W. Jacoby,Suggestionand Psychotherapy (New York: Charles Scribner'sSons,1912), chap. ii, especiallypp. 207,218-19.21 E.g., J. T. W. Rowe, "Is Dementia Praecox the 'New Peril' in Psychiatry?"American Journal of Insanity,LXIII (1907), 389, 393, Even most American psycho-analysistsin this early period, it must be admitted, had less regard for theoreticalconsistencyhan theirEuropean counterparts.


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464 AmericanQuarterlypsychoanalytic sychology ut also behaviorism. For within orthodoxexperimentalpsychology he Progressiveswere those who adhered tobehaviorism.25For yearspsychologists ad been aware of ferment nd discontentntheirprofession.Most of the criticismentered round thefactthatdry,descriptive cademic psychologywas not useful. Then JohnB. Watsontook leadershipof the revoltof the behavioristicpsychologists.Theydispensedwith consciousness nd introspectivemethods nd studiedthehuman organism in its environment, sing the methods of animalpsychology.Watson began his behavioristmanifeston 1913 bymakingthepurposeof the revoltclear: "Psychology s the behavioristviews itis a purelyobjectiveexperimentalbranchof natural science. Its theo-retical goal is the predictionand control of behavior."26 Here wasusefulnesswith a vengeance.The behaviorists ad observedthat animals' innatepatterns f actioncould be modifiedby training, nd the young Turks soon tended toembrace a radical environmentalism.Most psychologistsmore or lesscovertly ubscribedto an instinctpsychologyuch as that of WilliamJamesor William McDougall. Now out of the laboratorytself ame achallenge to essentially onservativenativism.27One would misunder-stand behaviorism f he overlookedthe explicitmeliorism nvolved inthe movement. Watson himselftook pains to clarifythe relation ofbehaviorism o social control, nd themorealertmembers f theprofes-sion also realized what was involved.28The goal of behaviorismwas,after all, merely restatement f the classical purpose of any scienceincluding psychology: o predict. And prediction,to the Progressivebehaviorists s to otherscientists,nvolvedcontrol.29

The elementsof Progressivismhus appeared as conspicuousfeaturesof reformmovementswithinpsychology nd psychiatry.The mass of25 The social psychologiesof men such as G. H. Mead and J. Mark Baldwin weretoo close to social philosophy to be properly included here. A case might be made,however,for including G. Stanley Hall and the genetic psychologyof that time.26 John B. Watson, "Psychologyas the Behaviorist Views It," The PsychologicalReview, XX (1913), 158; see also 168-69,177. Italics added. For an interesting aria-tion with Freudian elements,see John B. Watson and J. J. B. Morgan, "EmotionalReactions and Psychological Experimentation," The American Journal of Psychol-

ogy,XXVIII (1917), 163-74.27 E.g., see M. E. Haggerty, "The Laws of Learning," The Psychological Review,XX (1913), 411; Howard C. Warren, "The Mental and the Physical," ibid., XXI(1914), 99.28E.g., see John B. Watson, "An AttemptedFormulation of the Scope of BehaviorPsychology," bid., XXIV (1917), 329-52; A. P. Weiss, "Relation Between Functionaland Behavior Psychology," bid., pp. 353-68.29 See John Dewey, "The Need for Social Psychology," bid., pp. 274-75.


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Psychiatry nd ProgressiveMovement 465material n both sciencesremained, s before, rimarily escriptive.Butthesocial attitudes fsome ofthe practitionersf the two disciplines edtoprofound hanges n the verynature of psychiatrynd psychology,ustas Progressivismeft ts markon Americanpoliticaland social institutions.Progressivepsychiatry nd Progressivepsychology were uniquelyAmericanphenomena. The European professionaliteraturewas devoidof the optimistic ocial reformismf the New World versionsof thesedisciplines.Psychologist arl Rahn shrewdlypitomized he situation nhis observation bout psychoanalysis: Where the European follower fFreud emphasizes he point thatthe formulation f the symbol s indica-tiveof a 'renunciation f reality,'"wroteRahn, "the Americandisciplesees it as a 'carrier of energy'exquisitelyfittedfor increasingman'scontroloverhis environment...."30One can easily accountforthe rise of psychotherapynd the rise ofbehaviorismn terms f the internalhistories f psychiatrynd psychol-ogy. But thefact that these movements oincidedin timewiththe Pro-gressive ocial reformmovement,nd the fact that social controlwas anaim of reformersn both politicsand science, an be accounted foronlyby treating he developmentsn psychiatrynd psychology nd in allother middle-class ndeavors s partand parcel of theProgressivemove-ment itself.3'The historianwill discoverthe full dynamicsof Progres-sivism only when he examines not just politics,economicsand socialphilosophy, ut all aspectsof American ife.32

30 See Edwin G. Boring,A History of Experimental Psychology (2d ed., New York:Appleton-Century-Crofts,nc., 1950), pp. 642-43. Carl Rahn, in a review of W. A.White, Mechanisms of Character Formation, in The Psychological Bulletin, XIV(1917), 327. The absence of a British counterpart is especially striking n view ofthe nearlycontemporaneous eformmovementthere.31The intellectual spokesmenfor Progressivismwere well aware of the possibilitiesof the new movements in psychiatryand psychology;e.g., see Walter Lippmann,A PrefacetoPolitics (New York: M. Kennerley,1913).32 Even though not focusingon Progressivism,May, End of American Innocence,gives an idea of the light that can be shed on the movementby an approach suchas the one suggestedhere.

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