HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 59and personality development.^8 Indeed, he did not believe there could be
a rational treatment for mental illness without first having an adequate
theory of behavior and personality development.^9 Specifically, Cohen
wanted to
study... important types of mental illness [in order to discover]
more effective methods of treatment and prevention....[apply
a multidisciplinary examination of such studies in order to
discover]....those experiences [that] are essential for normal
personality development....[establish] a theory of personality
based on objective, replicable data....[and investigate]....the
anatomical structures and physiological events associated
with psychological activity in order to determine how certain
mental symptoms may be related to organic pathologic
processes.^10Toward these goals, research in the NIMH intramural clinical research
program was centered around three areas: one that focused on hyper
aggressive, anti-social, acting-out behaviors in pre-adolescent children;
one that focused on disorders of mood and thought in adults (i.e.,
schizophrenia^11 and other psychoses); and one that focused on psycho
somatic disorders, each with an eye toward studying such maladaptive
behaviors alongside normal controls.^12 Cohen was determined to adopt
an interdisciplinary approach to such studies–including the perspec
tives of psychiatry, psychology, sociology, anthropology, physiology,
biochemistry, and pharmacology–in which everyone was engaged in
his or her specialty but also kept abreast of advances in the other areas.^13
Cohen firmly believed that in order to evaluate behavior accurately
such research had to be carried out at three levels:
At the physical [level], to assess organic or physiologic
dysfunction, at the psychological [level] to assess percep
tions, affects and organization of thought, and at the
sociological [level] to study behavior in relation to others
and to assess the influences of the social situation in which
[the patient] lives.^14