ADLERIAN THERAPY

Adlerian Therapy

Adlerian Therapy

Introduction

This essay will discuss the Adlerian theory of counselling. After providing a brief overview of some of the key concepts including feelings of inferiority, purposeful behaviour and social interest, it will focus on the idea that a person can only be understood holistically. The paper will then discuss the related idea that an individual's perception of life events affects a person's psychology more than the actual events themselves (Kazdin 2000). This essay will also look at the counselling techniques that can be used to understand and help the client, not only in terms of his or her entire context, but also in terms their subjective perspective of life. The Adlerian technique has application in contemporary counselling and the number of Adlerian training centres continue to grow.

This paper will address a therapeutic approach known as the Adlerian technique named after its designer, Alfred Adler. In the early part of his career, Adler collaborated with Sigmund Freud in the development of the psychodynamic approach to therapy (Corey, 2005). However, Adler defected and founded the Society for Individual Psychology in 1912 (Corey, 2005). He went on to develop the Adlerian technique, also known as Individual Psychology, during the early twentieth century and, until his death in 1937, educated practitioners, schools and parents about its principles. After Adler's death, Rudolf Dreikurs continued to practice and promote counselling techniques premised on Individual Psychology, finding a willing audience in the United States (Corey, 2005).

Theorist & Key Figures

Named after Alfred Adler, Adlerian theory primarily emphasizes birth order, individual life styles, social interests, and concepts pertaining to inferiority and superiority as principle components of personality.  For Adler, psychological health is determined by the level of social contribution beneficial to the greater community.  To the degree, that one integrates and furthers the social context, thus the measurement of his or her mental health.  Social contribution is increased through the reduction of mistaken beliefs, which frequently lead to maladaptive feelings of inferiority or superiority.  This goal of combating false beliefs is attained through an understanding of family constellations, early memories, and dreams.

Alfred Adler (February 7, 1870, Mariahilfer Straße 208, Rudolfsheim, Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus  - May 28, 1937) was an Austrian medical doctor, psychologist and founder of the school of individual psychology. In collaboration with Sigmund Freud and a small group of Freud's colleagues, Adler was among the co-founders of the psychoanalytic movement as a core member of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society. He was the first major figure to break away from psychoanalysis to form an independent school of psychotherapy and personality theory. This was after Freud declared Adler's ideas as too contrary, leading to an ultimatum to all members of the Society (which Freud had shepherded) to drop Adler or be expelled, disavowing the right to dissent (Makari, 2008). Following this split, Adler would come to have an enormous, independent effect on the disciplines of counseling and psychotherapy as they developed over the course of the 20th century (Ellenberger, 1970). He influenced notable figures in subsequent schools of psychotherapy ...