Adlerian Therapy | Definition, key components | Therapeutic process & Techniques.

 Introduction

Adler abandoned Freud’s basic theories because he believed Freud was excessively narrow in his emphasis on biological and instinctual determination. Adler believed that the individual begins to form an approach to life somewhere in the first 6 years of living. Adler stressed choice and responsibility, meaning in life, and the striving for success, completion, and perfection.

Definition

“According to Adler, humans are motivated primarily by social relatedness rather than by sexual urges; behavior is purposeful and goal-directed, and consciousness, more than unconsciousness”.

Adlerian theory focuses the inferiority complex, superiority complex which have been experienced by the environmental influences and also style of life, birth order which is inferences of the human's personality development. In addition to that social interest evolved by the one of the style's of life.

KEY COMPONENTS

“Inferiority feelings the normal condition of all people; the source of all human striving”.

“Compensation a motivation to overcome inferiority, to strive for higher levels of development. A condition that develops when a person is unable to compensate for normal inferiority feelings”.

Causes of Inferiority Complexes

An inferiority complex can arise from three sources in childhood: organic inferiority, spoiling, and neglect.

Organic inferiority

A child who is physically weak, as Adler was, might focus on that weakness and work to develop superior athletic ability.

Spoiling

Spoiling or pampering a child can also bring about an inferiority complex. Spoiled children are the center of attention in the home. Their every need or

whim is satisfied, and little is denied them.

Neglecting

It is easy to understand how neglected, unwanted, and rejected children can develop an inferiority complex. Their infancy and childhood are characterized by a lack of love and security because their parents are indifferent or hostile.

Superiority complex a condition that develops when a person overcompensates for normal inferiority feelings persons with a superiority complex are given to boasting, vanity, self-centeredness, and a tendency to denigrate others.

Striving for superiority

The urge toward perfection or completion that motivates each of us.

Style of life

A unique character structure or pattern of personal behaviors and characteristics

by which each of us strives for perfection.

Basic styles of life include the dominant, getting, avoiding, and socially useful

types.

He proposed four basic styles of life for dealing with these problems

• Dominant type,

• Getting type,

• Avoiding type,

• Socially useful type.

The dominant type

It displays a dominant or ruling attitude with little social awareness. Such a person behaves without any regard for other people. The more extreme of this type attack others and become sadists, delinquents, or sociopaths. The less virulent become alcoholics, drug addicts, or suicides; they believe they hurt others by attacking themselves.

The getting type

It expects to receive satisfaction from other people and so becomes dependent on them.

The avoiding type

It makes no attempt to face life’s problems. By avoiding difficulties, the person avoids any possibility of failure.

These three types are not prepared to cope with the problems of everyday life. They are unable to cooperate with other people and the clash between their style of life.

The socially useful type

In contrast, cooperates with others and acts in accordance with their needs. Such persons cope with problems within a well-developed framework of social interest.

Social interest our innate potential to cooperate with other people to achieve personal and societal goals.

One of Adler’s most enduring contributions is the idea that order of birth is a major social influence in childhood, one from which we create our style of life.

Creative power of the self

The ability to create an appropriate style of life. Adler believed in the existence of individual free will that allows each of us to create an appropriate style of life from the abilities and experiences given us by both our genetic endowment and our social environment.

Therapeutic technique:

Early recollections

A personality assessment technique in which our earliest memories, whether of real events or fantasies, are assumed to reveal the primary interest of our life.

Adler believed that each early memory should be interpreted within the context of the patient’s style of life, he found commonalities among them. He suggested that memories involving danger or punishment indicated a tendency toward hostility. That early recollection had revealed an important and influential aspect of his personality.

Dream Analysis

Adler agreed with Freud about the value of dreams in understanding personality but disagreed on the way in which dreams should be interpreted.Rather, dreams involve our feelings about a current problem and what we intend to do about it. Dreams Adler’s belief that dreams help us solve current problems was investigated by exposing subjects to situations in which the failure to solve a puzzle was considered a threat to the personality.

Examples:

A dream of falling indicates that the person’s emotional view involves a demotion or loss, such as the fear of losing self-esteem or prestige.

A flying dream indicates a sense of striving upward, an ambitious style of life in which the person desires to be above or better than others.

Measures of Social Interest

Adler had no desire to use psychological tests to assess personality. He argued that tests create artificial situations that provide ambiguous results. Instead of relying on tests, Adler thought therapists should develop their intuition.

Therapeutic process

• Adlerian counseling rests on a collaborative arrangement between the client and the counselor.

• The therapeutic process includes forming a relationship based on mutual respect; a holistic psychological investigation or lifestyle assessment.

• The main aim of therapy is to develop the client’s sense of belonging and to assist in the adoption of behaviors and processes characterized by community feeling and social interest.

• Adlerian's do not view clients as being “sick” and in need of being “cured.”

• The counseling process focuses on providing information, teaching, guiding, and offering encouragement to discouraged clients.

• Encouragement is the most powerful method available for changing a person’s beliefs, for it helps clients build self-confidence and stimulates courage. The loss of courage, or discouragement, results in mistaken and dysfunctional behavior.

• Help the client make new choices (reorientation and reeducation).

• Therapists often gather information about the individual’s style of living by means of a questionnaire on the client’s family constellation, which includes parents, siblings, and others living in the home, life tasks, and early recollections.

When summarized and interpreted, this questionnaire gives a picture of the individual’s early social world.