Am J Psychiatry 1989; 146:1541-1551
Copyright © 1989 by American Psychiatric Association
Biological priority and psychological supremacy: a new integrative paradigm derived from process theory
HC Sabelli and L Carlson-Sabelli
Department of Psychiatry, Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center, Chicago, IL.
Process theory is a comprehensive theory of physical and psychological
processes that can serve to integrate biological, social, and psychodynamic
psychiatry. Process theory uses concepts derived from mathematical dynamics
and Heraclitus's process philosophy. It provides three novel and clinically
applicable concepts: 1) biological priority and psychological supremacy (as
contrasted to theories of biological or psychological primacy), 2) union of
opposites (as contrasted to psychoanalytic and dialectic conflicts and to
systems homeostasis), and 3) creative bifurcations (as contrasted to
determinism and developmental theories).
