Theory and Practice of Adlerian Psychology

FIRST EDITION

Edited By Dr. Rosalyn V. Green

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First Edition

Edited by Rosalyn V. Green Bowie State University Bassim Hamadeh, Publisher Michael Simpson, Vice President of Acquisitions Christopher Foster, Vice President of Marketing Jessica Knott, Managing Editor Stephen Milano, Creative Director Kevin Fahey, Cognella Marketing Program Manager Melissa Barcomb, Acquisitions Editor Sarah Wheeler, Project Editor Luiz Ferreira, Licensing Associate

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Th eory of Personality By Dr. Henry Raymond 1 Basic Assumptions in Individual Psychology Dr. Rosalyn V. Green 41 Th e Adlerian Tasks of Life Dr. Kimberly M. Daniel and Dr. Jennifer M. West 49 Adlerian Group Counseling Dr. Rhonda Jeter-Twilley 57 Adlerian Family Th erapy Dr. Rosalyn V. Green 65 Cultural Implications of Adlerian Th eory Dr. Otis Williams III 83 Adlerian View of the Child, Parenting, and Managing Maladaptive Behaviors Karina M. Golden, Jake A. Johnson, and Audrey A. Lucas Brown 99 Process in Adlerian Psychotherapy Dr. Cubie A Bragg and Dr.Jacqueline E. Somerville 111 Issues in Clinical Practice: A Case Study Approach Dr. Frank Norton and John McIlveen 127 Basic Assumptions in Individual Psychology

Dr. Rosalyn V. Green

dlerian theory is based upon certain assumptions that diff er signifi cantly Afrom the Freudian psychoanalytic view from which Adlerian psychology emerged. Adler credited Freud for the development of a dynamic psychology. In personality development, the infl uence of early childhood experiences is in agreement with Freud. Th e idea that dreams were meaningful was also acknowledged. While Freud emphasized the Oedipus complex and the role of psychosexual development, Adler focused on the family constellation and the children’s perception of that constellation and their struggle to fi nd their place within it. Th e assumption underlying Adlerian counseling theory is that people are social, decision-making, indivisible beings whose actions and psychological movement have purpose. Each person is seen as an individual within a social environment, with the capacity to choose and to decide. Adlerian basic assumptions are:

1. All behavior has social meaning or occurs in a social environment. One of the basic premises of the Adlerian theory is that man is primarily a social being and that behavior can be understood only in a social context. Man is born into an environment with which he must engage in reciprocal relations. Adler’s contention is that people cannot be studied in isolation. 2. Th e goal of belonging. Th roughout one’s life term, the goal of belonging is fundamental to human nature. We decide which groups are important

Basic Assumptions in Individual Psychology 41 to us and strive to gain their acceptance. Numerous formal and informal groupings that exist in our society attest to our goal of belonging and having a certain place that we value and where we are valued. If we are not accepted or feel that we do not belong, problems and fears can become a part of our everyday lives. If we perceive that we cannot make the grade or do the job, we fear that we will not be accepted. Our sense of belonging remains unfulfi lled and we become anxious and unhappy. 3. Individual psychology is an interpersonal psychology. How individuals interact with others is paramount. An interpersonal relationship with others is a lifelong continuous process that begins in infancy, when we are dependent upon others for survival. As we grow and develop, we need to cooperate with others to fulfi ll our goals and function eff ectively in society. Transcending interpersonal transactions is the development of the feeling of being a part of a larger social whole, the willingness to contribute and cooperate with others for the common good. It is the feeling of being socially imbedded—the awareness of the universal interrelatedness of all human beings. It is the capacity to develop what Adler called Gemeinschaft sgefühl, or social interest. 4. Adlerian psychology rejects reductionism in favor of holism. Adlerians study the whole person and how one moves through life. Conscious and unconscious, mind and body, approach and avoidance, ambivalence and confl ict are all seen as the subjective experiences of the individual moving in one direction. All part functions are subordinate functions of the person’s goals and style of life. 5. Conscious and unconscious are both in the service of the individual who uses them to further personal goals. Adler felt that which is unconscious is non-understood, and that man knew more than he understood. Confl ict is defi ned as a “one step forward and a one step backward movement,” thus the net eff ect being to maintain the individual at a point “dead center.” Although the individual fi nds himself in the throes of a confl ict, unable to move, in reality, according to Adler, he creates these antagonistic feelings, ideas, and values, because he is not willing to move in the direction of solving his problems. 6. Th e human personality has unity and guiding themes. Individual psychology suggests that human personality is integrated rather than in confl ict. Th e person is a system in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. In this whole, Adler saw the unity of the person in whose behavior there is a consistent theme and pattern. Th e individual is seen as a dynamic, unifi ed organism moving through life in defi nite patterns toward a goal. An understanding of the person is based on the unity and purposes of the individual’s behavior. No matter how much information is gathered about an individual’s achievements, interests, and intelligence, these data cannot speak for themselves. Until one is able to see the relationship between behavior and data and observe the pattern and purpose of the behavior, it is diffi cult to develop remedial and corrective actions. Th is view requires that therapists take a holistic approach with

42 Theory and Practice of Adlerian Psychology the client. It suggests that all actions in the individual’s chosen style of life be looked at. Th e way people organize themselves as whole persons infl uences their perception of life and their interactions and transactions with others. 7. All behavior is purposeful. While an individual may or may not be conscious of his or her motivation for an action, the behavior is still directed toward a specifi c goal. From an Adlerian point of view, all of an individual’s actions are seen in relation to their goal-directed nature. Th e goal then gives direction to the person’s striving, and it becomes the fi nal cause—the fi nal explanation. So, instead of always looking back to a possible cause, therapists look to the future goal as the cause. Adler felt that if the goal of the individual was known, then the psychological phenomena—character traits, emotions, feelings, logic, morals, etc.— could be understood and explained. Adlerians believe that man is not pushed by causes, but move toward self-selected goals, which they feel will preserve their self-esteem, will provide them with security, and will give them a place in the world. Behavior that is seen as unexplainable and inexplicable can become understandable once the goal and purpose are known. Th e goals of behavior are always created by the individual, and thus give the individual “creative power.” Th erefore, behavior is understood not only as a response to a stimulus, but also in terms of the intervening variable of the person who makes a creative decision about the stimuli. Individuals may appear to engage in behaviors that, according to adults and peers, are destructive and negative. Th e premise is that from the individual’s interpretation or point of view, this behavior has specifi c kinds of meaning to him/her in terms of his or her personal signifi cance, self-esteem, and method of fi nding a place for him- or herself, and thus he/she behaves in a way to achieve such. All forms of behavior are the results of the creative choices made by the individual in selecting and pursuing their goals. Behavior always makes sense to the person, if not to others. Th e goal of the behavior may not always be fully known to the individual; nonetheless, the person operates in the direction of the goal and the interpretation given to the goal. Awareness of the goal, therefore, provides the therapist with clues needed for corrective measures. 8. Behavior is a function of subjective perception. Individuals learn to perceive life; that is, a perception of ourselves and the world around us is acquired through a subjective point of view. In more recent terminology, this is described as behavior being a product of how each person views the external world through a subjective set of “fi lters.” To understand a person’s behavior, one must fi rst come to recognize the signifi cance of the inner subjective experiences and its infl uences on the decisions the individual makes. For the Adlerian, it is important that the person be understood in terms of the meaning a given event has for that person. Individuals tend to behave according to how things appear to them, and when that perception changes, then the behavior changes accordingly. Seemingly, perception determines behavior perhaps more than reality

Basic Assumptions in Individual Psychology 43 does. When perceptions are vague and indistinct, behavior will be similarly ambivalent. Conversely when perceptions are clear and accurate, then behaviors are precise and effi cient. Th e Adlerian therapist is always attempting to see with the client’s eyes and hear with the client’s ears—to get into the client’s world to understand how they perceive whatever is going on in their environment. Th e best advantage point for understanding the behavior of an individual is from the internal frame of reference from the individual him- or herself. Th is implies that the therapist must avoid as much as possible any personal bias. He or she must have the capacity to comprehend what the client is really saying, and help them clarify why they feel that way. Once the therapist helps the client examine and become aware of their own points of view, then the therapist can help them consider alternate views and diff erent behaviors. Th e more accurately the therapist can understand the client’s perception, the more adequately he/she will be able to assist them in their healing process. 9. Th e striving for signifi cance explains motivation. Th e central striving of human beings has been variously described as competence, completion, mastery, perfection, self-actualization, self-realization, and superiority. Th e striving for signifi cance comes from the individual’s subjectively conceived goal of success. Adlerian psychology recognizes the family as the fi rst group in which individuals strive to fi nd a signifi cant place. Our inferiority feelings are usually the result of faulty self-evaluation. Th ese faulty self-evaluations are arrived at by incorrectly answering questions such as: “Who and what am I?” and “How do I master the environment?” Individuals have the capacity to give the wrong answers to these and similar questions and then mistakenly conclude that they are worthless. Th e striving for signifi cance is a movement toward fulfi llment of the goal to achieve unique identity and to belong. Adler believed that each person strove for self-improvement having an innate desire to become better, to move forward and onward, to become superior. He felt that every individual moved “from a perceived minus to a perceived plus.” Adler did not feel that striving for perfection and superiority was a striving for superiority or perfection over others, but rather that it was a movement directed at self-improvement and greater competency. In this basic assumption of striving for signifi cance, Adler saw behavior as being aff ected by feelings of inferiority or “inferiority complexes.” Feelings of inferiority are common, normal, and functional, in that they serve as motivators to movement. Because motivation is seen in the light of a person’s striving for signifi cance, as he/she perceives signifi cance, it is most important that the therapist recognize a person’s set of attitudes, specifi c behavior, and series of relationships as a revelation of how that person believes he or she fi ts into his or her social context. Most ways of behaving that are accepted by the person refl ect their current concept of how they see themselves.

44 Theory and Practice of Adlerian Psychology 10. Moving through life, the individual is confronted with alternatives. Since Adlerians are either soft determinists or non-determinists, the conceptualization of man as a creative, choosing, self-determined decision maker allows him to choose the goals he wants to pursue. Th e goals may not always be real, but may be a fi ctional internal goal derived from the individual’s subjective perception and process of “private logic.” Private logic refers to the individual’s cognitive constructs that serve in pursuit of a goal and represent a set of “personal truths” that guide the individual. 11. Freedom of choice. Adlerians believe that people are self-directed, creative, able to make decisions, and possess the capacity for coexisting and interrelating with others. Far from being machines, the human condition includes choice, even though the choice may be “contaminated” by past experiences. Adler felt as though freedom to choose is an innate feature of man. Recognition of humans’ freedom of choice is emphasized in the purposive nature of behavior. It acknowledges that people evaluate and interpret life according to the goals they choose for themselves. 12. Th e style of life. An individual’s characteristic approach to live was viewed by Adler as the style of life. Th e term “lifestyle” refers to a person’s basic orientation toward life. Th e unique way in which each person tries to realize their fi ctional fi nal goals, and meets or avoids the fi ve main tasks of life—work, community (society and friendship), love, spirituality, and self—is their style of life. A lifestyle is formed early in childhood and is unique; no two people develop the same style. A person’s lifestyle is based on one’s private logic, develops out of one’s life plan, and is powered by the fi ctional goal that an individual establishes for him- or herself. Private logic refers to the thinking processes that a person doesn’t recognize or prefers not to know, but nevertheless have a defi nite infl uence on that individual’s actions. All of these thinking processes which never reach the threshold of consciousness are a part of the private logic. Individuals are not born to deal with the demands of life. To cope, they must learn the rules of the game of the human community, which is fi rst experienced through the family. Diffi culties and successes are incorporated and interpreted into the person’s life. To fi nd clarity and predictability in their life, the individual develops safeguarding mechanisms and fi ctional solutions to problems to orient themselves. Th e person lays down a certain plan as a child in preparation for living. Th e life plan grows out of the constant repetition of attempts to cope with real or imagined diffi culties. Out of this plan develops the lifestyle. Each person, early in life, develops a fi ctional image of what he/she needs to be like to be safe, to feel belonging, to be superior, etc. Th e actualization of this image becomes the main goal of the lifestyle. Th e life plan and its fi ctional goal are the outcomes of the individual’s assessment of his or her experiences. Th is assessment is oft en inaccurate, because it is done when the person is a child, and although children are excellent observers and have extraordinary perception, they lack the experience and maturity to

Basic Assumptions in Individual Psychology 45 adequately interpret their observations. Th us, the style of life can become misguided. What was felt needed as a child might no longer be appropriate as an adult. 13. Living life demands courage. Courage refers to the willingness to engage in risk-taking behavior when one does not know the consequences, or when the consequences might be adverse. Life is bigger than we are and is constantly providing challenges; living life demands courage. Adler suggested that the concept of courage essentially consists of two elements: activity (rate of movement toward goals) and social interest. Consequently, the highly active person who has interest in others is courageous—ready, willing, and able to act to achieve in terms of his or her feelings of belonging to others. Adler encouraged persons to be willing to engage in courageous behaviors. Willingness is dependent upon many variables, internal and external, such as the lifestyle convictions, the degree of social interest, the extent of risk as the individual appraises it, and whether one is task oriented. Since life has few guarantees, all living requires some extent of risk-taking.

Th e basic assumptions of individual psychology are that individuals are seen as unique, coordinated, logically related, intact indivisible units. People operate in terms of their phenomenology—concepts, ideas, memories, percep- tions, and values. Th eir external behavior is a function of the aforementioned internal elements. Emotions are not simply the results of outside events, but rather are due to the interpretation of these events. Every human being is goal- directed. Human behavior is the result of the tendency of individuals to move toward private goals. Individual psychology gets its name from the basic notion of holism, that a person is an individuum—an indivisible unit. Yet it is a social psychology, in that it stresses that the individual is meaningless except in social terms, and that the person operates in a social environment. While it is agreed that individu- als are formed and directed to some extent by hereditary and environmental factors independent of the individual, nevertheless, individual psychology views people as responsible and creative. Th ey see individuals as integrated, responsible, self-directed, unique, moving toward private goals, and striving for success.

References

Adler, A. (1956). Th e Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler: A Systematic Presentation in Selections from His Writings. Edited and annotated by H. L. Ansbacher and R. R. Ansbacher. New York: Basic Books. Allport, G. W. (1955). Becoming. New Haven, CT. Yale University Press.

46 Theory and Practice of Adlerian Psychology Allport, G. W. (1961). Pattern and Growth of Personality. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Ansbacher, H. L., and Ansbacher, R. R. (eds.). (1956). Th e Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler. New York: Basic Books. Dreikurs, R. (1953). Fundamental of Adlerian Psychology. Chicago: Alfred Adler Institute. Dreikurs, R., and Mosak, H. H. (1967). Th e Task of Life II. Th e Fourth Life Task. Individual Psychology Psychologist, 4, 51–56. Dreikurs, R. (1971). Social Equality: Th e Challenge of Children Today. Chicago: Regency. Ellenberger, H. (1970). Th e Discovery of the Unconscious. New York: Basic Books. Hoff man, E. (1994). Th e Drive for Self: Alfred Adler and the Founding of Individual Psychology. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. Horney, K. (1966). Our Inner Confl icts. New York: Norton Publishers. Mosak, H. H. (1977). On Purpose (pp. 60–75). Chicago: Alfred Adler Institute. Mosak, H. H., and Dreikurs, R. (1967.) Th e Life Tasks: Th e Fift h Life Task. Individual Psychologist, 5, 16–22. Mosak, H. H. (1995). Adlerian Psychotherapy. In R. J. Corsini & D. Wedding (eds.). Sage Publishers. Oberst, U. E., and Stewart, A. E. (2003). Adlerian Psychotherapy: An Advanced Approach to Individual Psychology. New York: Brynner/Routledge. Shulman, B. H. (1965) A Comparison of Allport’s and the Adlerian Concept of Lifestyle. Contributions to a Psychology of the Self. Individual Psychologist, 3, 14–21.

Dr. Rosalyn V. Green is a full time tenured Associate Professor at Bowie State University in Bowie, Md. with a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology. Her area of expertise in the Counseling arena is with couples, families, and groups. Dr. Green teaches Family Counseling, Group Counseling, and Marital Th erapy. She is also a licensed and ordained Reverend in her church and is thus able to bring the relationship between theology and psychology into the therapeutic setting. Besides teaching and preaching, Dr. Green also has her own private practice and is very active within and outside her community by presenting at workshops, seminars, retreats and other such environments. Her passion is to empower and challenge herself and others to grow, change, and thrive to live life to its fullest potential. Dr. Green has recently published her fi rst book entitled Our Father: Imprints Th at Shape Our Lives and has just completed her second book Holy Molasses: I Am Stuck in Singlehood.

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