Sullivanian

S1U1L1L1I1V4A1N1I1A1N1

noun

A member of an unorthodox and controversial psychotherapy group in New York City from the 1960s to the 1980s, led by Saul B. Newton, promoting a distorted version of psychiatrist Harry Stack Sullivan's views.

Scrabble 14
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounSullivanian (plural Sullivanians)

plural Sullivanians

  1. A member of an unorthodox and controversial psychotherapy group in New York City from the 1960s to the 1980s, led by Saul B. Newton, promoting a distorted version of psychiatrist Harry Stack Sullivan's views.

    The 39-year-old Sprecher, a computer programmer, was a Sullivanian for twelve years. He left the group in 1986. But the case is not really about Paul, Dee Dee, or even David. It's about the group.

    1989 June 19, Phoebe Hoban, “Psycho Drama: The Chilling Story of How the Sullivanian Cult Turned a Utopian Dream into a Nightmare”, in New York, volume 22, number 25, →ISSN, page 41
adjectiveSullivanian (not comparable)
  1. not comparableOf or pertaining to this therapy group.

Origin

From Sullivan + -ian.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Sullivanian. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Sullivanian

MLA

“Sullivanian.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Sullivanian. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Sullivanian,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Sullivanian.

Source: Sullivanian on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.