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CHAPTER 3
Adlerian Psychotherapy
Photo missing
Photo 3.1 Alfred Adler
Archive Photos/Getty Images.
A simple rule in dealing with those who are hard to get along with is to remember that this person is striving to
assert his superiority; and you must deal with him from that point of view.
It is easier to fight for one’s principles than to live up to them.
Meanings are not determined by situations, but we determine ourselves by the meanings we give to situations.
Alfred Adler
PROOF
Brief Biography (1870–1937) was the second of six children (four boys and two
Alfred Adler was raised in Vienna, Austria, in a girls). Adler experienced a number of traumatic
middle-class, Jewish grain merchant family. He events while growing up. One of his brothers died
11
lying next to him. During his early years, Adler would govern his practice in psychiatry. In 1897,
was his mother’s favorite because he was quite Adler married Raissa Epstein, a Russian, and both
sickly. He suffered from rickets, which kept him became devoted to socialism.
from walking until he was 4 years old. The third In 1902, Sigmund Freud invited Adler to join
child dethroned Adler as his mother’s favorite, his select Wednesday evening psychoanalytic dis-
and thereafter, he turned to his father for support. cussion circle. Initially, Adler was receptive to many
Father and son remained close for most of Adler’s of Freud’s views. Yet, increasingly, the two men
life (Watts, 2003). differed in their views. Although both believed that
When Adler was five years old, he nearly died of individuals’ personalities are formed by the age of
pneumonia. During the doctor’s visit, Adler heard six, they differed substantially about the essential
the doctor tell his father that “Alfred is lost.” It was conflicts people face in their development. Adler
because of this near-death experience that Adler criticized Freud for what he called an overempha-
decided that he wanted to become a medical doctor. sis on sexuality. They disagreed on the role of the
Many of the ideas and concepts that comprise unconscious, the importance of social issues, and
current psychotherapy can be traced directly to the role of drive theory. Freud maintained that
Adler’s views of his early childhood experiences. Adler gave too much credit to conscious processes.
Adler’s earliest memories were of sibling rivalry, Although Adler was president of the Vienna
jealousy, and sickness. He was known for his com- Psychoanalytic Society in 1911, he resigned this
petitive spirit toward his older brother Sigmund, position and left with nine of the 23 members.
whom he viewed as a strong rival. Adler’s early Adler established himself as the leader for a new
childhood experiences with illnesses and trauma system of psychotherapy that he labeled individual
provided the basis for his theory of organ inferi- psychology to highlight that he was studying the
ority and inferiority feelings. According to Adler, whole individual. In 1912, he formed the Society of
each person has a weak area in his or her body the Individual Psychology.
(organ inferiority) that tends to be the area where During World War I, Adler served as a physi-
illness takes place—the stomach, head, or heart. cian in the Austrian Army. Shortly after the war, he
Adler (1917) wrote psychoanalytic articles on established the first of 30 child guidance clinics in
organ inferiority. He was one of the first theorists to the Viennese school system. During his lifetime, 39
propose that feelings of inferiority could stimulate Adlerian societies were established. Although he
a striving for superiority. had been raised Jewish, at this time Adler converted
To compensate for his physical limitations, to Protestantism. During the early 1930s, most
he developed his leadership abilities (Watt, 2003). of his Austrian clinics were closed because of his
During secondary school, he failed mathematics. Jewish heritage (even though he had converted to
The teacher recommended that he be removed Christianity). With the rise of Nazism in Europe,
from school and become apprenticed as a shoe- Adler and his wife moved to the United States in
maker. Despite this recommendation, Adler per- 1935. Adler continued his private practice in the
sisted, studied at home, and thereafter went to the United States, and he was appointed to the chair
head of his class in mathematics. of medical psychology at the Long Island School
As Adler grew older, his health improved. of Medicine.
Adler’s father encouraged him to attend medical Adler lived a life of hard work. Unfortunately,
school. In 1895, he began his practice as an oph- he ignored his friends’ admonitions to slow down.
PROOF
thalmologist. Later, he switched to a general prac- He loved walking before lectures. During a long
tice. Next, he began to study psychiatry in order walk before a scheduled lecture in Aberdeen
to understand his patients psychologically. Adler Scotland, Adler collapsed and died of a mas-
maintained that he was interested in the develop- sive heart attack. Two of his children, Kurt and
ment of the whole person, and this philosophy Alexandra, spread Adler’s work throughout the
2 PART I THE FIRST FORCE I PSCHOTHERAP
United States. Rudolf Dreikurs, perhaps Adler’s Alfred Adler Institutes of San Francisco and
most famous disciple, moved from Austria to the Northwestern Washington, the Alfred Adler
United States and established child guidance clinics Institute of New York. Alfred Adler institutes exist
in Chicago. Since the 1990s there has been a resur- throughout the world. In Canada, there is the
gence of interest in Adlerian therapy in the United Adlerian Psychology Association of B.C. and the
States (Hoffman, 1994). Adler-Dreikurs Montessori School in Toronto.
Alfred Adler had a major impact on psychol- The United Kingdom has at least five Adlerian insti-
ogy. He influenced Karen Horney on social factors tutes or societies: the British Adlerian Society and
in her theory of personality and Gordon Allport on the Cambridge Adlerian Society. In Austria, there
the unity of personality. Other notable psycholo- is the Austrian Society for Individual Psychology
gists whom he influenced were E. C. Tolman (pur- and the Rudolf Dreikurs Institute.
pose), Julian Rotter (expectancies), and Abraham
Maslow (self-actualization). Maslow, Rollo May, KEY CCEPT
and Carl Rogers studied under Adler and noted
that he had a major impact on their thinking. Aer’ ie of Ha
are
One of Adler’s primary contributions to psy-
chology is his theory that human personality Adler’s view of human nature is holistic and phe-
and behavior are inherently goal directed, driven nomenological in orientation. He emphasizes that
by some inner force that deals with overcoming individuals’ perceptions of their early childhood
inferiority feelings, and that very early in life we events have an important influence on the rest of
construct goals that we strive to achieve through- their lives. Human behavior is developed within
out our lives. He had a great impact on what is a social context, and therefore, therapy should
commonly regarded as good parenting and child take into consideration that context. Further, all
management. Although Adler was an excellent human conflicts are social conflicts. Because the
therapist, his primary interests were in preventive basic desire of people is to belong, they can fulfill
psychology and in the interaction of families. He themselves and become significant only within a
was one of the first to advocate democratic parent- group context.
ing, and he outlined two types of parenting that led Adler’s concept of the nature of people differed
to later problems: pampering or overprotecting a sharply from that of Freud, who saw people as driven
child, and neglecting a child. primarily by instincts that that had to be controlled or
Other theorists and psychologists have exten- transformed into socially acceptable behavior. In con-
sively borrowed and adapted Adler’s ideas. For trast, Adler (1907, 1929/1964) asserted that human
instance, Ellenberger (1970, p. 645) stated, “It behavior was primarily learned rather than instinc-
would not be easy to find another author from tual and that people
which so much has been borrowed from all sides are in control of their Inner Reflections
without acknowledgement than Adler.” Similarly, behavior and the situ-
Joseph Wilder wrote in his introduction to Essays ations they encounter. Ho old yo com are
in Individual Psychology (Adler & Deutsch, 1959), Adler believed people Adler’s vies o hma
“Most observations and ideas of Alfred Adler have to be more conscious atre ith Fred’s
subtly and quietly permeated modern psycho- than unconscious.
logical thinking to such a degree that the proper What we are and how hat if ay art of
PROOF
question is not whether one is Adlerian but how we relate to the world Adler’s vies o the
much of an Adlerian one is” (p. xv). Some associa- is a conscious choice, atre of eo le do yo
tions that focus on Adler include the International not one that should agree ith hich do yo
Association for Individual Psychology; the North be blamed on uncon- disagree ith
American Society of Adlerian Psychology; the scious influences.
CHAPTER 3 AERIA PSCHOTHERAP 3
The fundamental nature of people is social. Aer’ Theory of Pero
aiy
Moreover, Adlerians believe that dividing up
individuals into parts or forces (i.e., Freud’s Whereas Freud stressed the role of psychosexual
id, ego, and superego) was counterproductive development and the Oedipal complex, Adler
because it was mechanistic. Human beings are emphasized the effects of children’s perceptions
creative, self-determined decision makers who of their family constellations and their struggles
are free to choose their life goals. We construct to find their own significant niches within them.
our reality based on our ways of viewing the Adler argued that one’s personality is a complete
world (Mosak, 2005). unity—the principle of holism (Mosak, 2005).
From Adler’s perspective, people are neither Whereas Freud said that there was a conflict
inherently good nor bad, but based on their between his three proposed parts of one’s personal-
appraisal of an immediate situation and its payoff, ity (id, ego, and superego), Adler maintained there
they may choose to be good or bad. Individuals was no internal war or conflict and that the indi-
have an innate human potential for social interest. vidual moves only in one direction. Clients should
Children enter the world with an innate response not be analyzed from the perspective of urges and
pattern of love and affections. Adler described drives but rather from the perspective of the total
social interest as the ability to participate and the fields in which they operate. The Adlerian concept
willingness to contribute to society. To function of the unity of behavior is similar to Gestalt psy-
adequately in life, people must develop sufficient chologists’ view of behavior. A person is an indivis-
social interest; otherwise deficiency and malad- ible unity. The Adlerian concept of personality
justment occur. Our desire to belong is a lifelong development is founded on the following nine
pursuit and is marked by our efforts to find our concepts: (1) social interest; (2) masculine pro-
“place in life.” test; (3) lifestyle; (4) goal-directed and purposeful
Individuals’ development of feelings of infe- behavior; (5) feelings of inferiority; (6) striving
riority is considered to be part of the human for superiority; (7) fictional finalism; (8) family
condition and inev- constellation; and (9) birth order (Mosak, 2005).
Inner Reflections itable. All of us at
some point (usually Social Interest
Oftetimes cliets come in early childhood)
to thera y
ecase they experience evalua- Social interest is an Adlerian concept that refers
are e eriecig iferiority tions of inferiority, to individuals’ sense of being part of the human
feeligs. which may lead to community and their attitudes toward others.
Ho old yo assess for feelings of inferior- Adler maintained that society was important in
iferiority or s eriority ity. It is the nature of the development of one’s individual character and
feeligs people to try to over- one’s emotion. Children seek to find their places in
come feelings of infe- society; they also develop a sense of belonging and
hat Adleria thera etic riority developed in of contributing. Adler described social interest as
techies old yo se childhood by striving an individual’s ability to empathize with others: “to
for orig ith cliets to become superior see with the eyes of another, to hear with the ears of
ho have feeligs of in self-selected areas. another, to feel with the heart of another” (as cited
iferiority Adler believed that in Ansbacher & Ansbacher, 1979, p. 42). People
PROOF
feelings of inferior- show or demonstrate their social interest. Adler
ity are not necessarily presumed an innate potential for social interest.
negative; they provide the motivations for subse- When our social interest has been developed
quent adolescent and adult achievement in life. adequately, we find solutions to problems and feel
PART I THE FIRST FORCE I PSCHOTHERAP
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