Adlerian Psychotherapy
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CHAPTER 3 Adlerian Psychotherapy 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 Brief BiographyPROOF (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 1 1 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. thalmologist. Later, he switched to a general prac- He loved walking before lectures. During a long tice. Next, he beganPROOF 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 IN PSYCHOTHERAPY 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, and Carl Rogers studied under Adler and noted KEY CONCEPTS ______________ that he had a major impact on their thinking. One of Adler’s primary contributions to psy- Adler’s View of Human Nature 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 without acknowledgement than Adler.” Similarly, behavior and the situ- Inner Reflections Joseph Wilder wrote in his introduction to Essays ations they encounter. How would you compare in Individual Psychology (Adler & Deutsch, 1959), Adler believed people Adler’s views on human “Most observations and ideas of Alfred Adler have to be more conscious nature with Freud’s? subtly and quietly permeated modern psycho- than unconscious. logical thinking to such a degree that the proper What we are and how What, if any, part of question is not whether one is Adlerian but how we relate to the world Adler’s views on the much of an Adlerian one is” (p. xv). Some associa- is a conscious choice, nature of people do you PROOFagree with? Which do you tions that focus on Adler include the International not one that should Association for Individual Psychology; the North be blamed on uncon- disagree with? American Society of Adlerian Psychology; the scious influences. CHAPTER 3 ADLERIAN PSYCHOTHERAPY 3 The fundamental nature of people is social. Adler’s Theory of Personality 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.