Alfred Adler (1870-1937)

Individual Psychology

A Fictitious Memory
As an adult, Adler had a vivid memory of having to walk through
a cemetery on his way to school as a five year-old, being terrified,
and mastering his fear by running through the cemetery back and
forth a number of times.

Later, when he was 35, he learned that there never had been a
cemetery on his way to school, and thus, the whole memory was
fictitious (= not factual, created unconsciously by the psyche).

Why did Adler construct such a memory?

When he was five, Adler almost died of pneumonia, but was
then given treatment and recovered rapidly. That incident is was gave
him the desire to become an MD when he grew up (which he did)

The fear of death stayed a predominant theme in Adlers life

and work.

The construction of this memory was a way for his unconscious

to express the manner in which he dealt with that fear.

Why does the unconscious create a fiction?

In Adlers view, the unconscious helps us problem solve.
The fear of death was more prevalent in Adlers psyche than he
consciously knew.

Configuring that memory provides a possible model for action.

In the memory, he faces and copes successfully with his fear, and
showed courage and strength.

We always construct memories

If you doubt this, just compare some of your childhood recollections with
your siblings and other family members. They may remember things quite
differently than you do. There may be things you remember strongly and clearly
that no one else does. Did these things happen? Only God would know for sure
(unless it is the kind of thing for which you can find physical evidence)

Do some memory constructions give you information about your fears or

important themes?

We construct helpful memories

Adler would say that we are constructing the kinds of memories
which support us in our goals and struggles.

That also is, says Adler, how we are constructing dreams:

dreams aim to create a mood that will prompt us into taking

action when we wake up.

Question: How is that similar to/different from the way Freud

and Jung looked at dreams?

The basic driving force for Adler is

The attempt to overcome death, to live constructively in the
presence of death as a possibility

Overcoming Death Means

When we are afraid of death, we also fear the various forms of
inferiority and vulnerability we experience (ex: disability, illness, not
being good at something, being poor, being weak and small etc..)

Trying to hide our vulnerabilities or deny them is the

UNHEALTHY response

Overcoming death means living constructively in the

presence of our weaknesses and vulnerabilities.

Ways to deal with our sense of inferiority

Compensatory striving: becoming stronger, better in some other

way
Aggression and anger at ones problems, hostility (or its
opposite, submission, passive aggression)

Overcompensation to feel competent and in control (Adler

called this: masculine protest)

Perfection striving: seeking after a goal, or dream. Based on

subjective, fictional ideas about life.

Find some examples of:

Compensatory striving
Compensatory anger
Overcompensation
Perfection striving
Note that SOME of that can be energizing and helpful.

Inferiority and superiority traits serve the same goal

Which is to deal with ones vulnerabilities and inferiorities.
An overbearing, authoritarian, arrogant person is in fact insecure and
exhibiting a superiority complex

An overly timid, submissive, conforming person, exhibiting an inferiority

complex is insecure as well.

The two have chosen different strategies: attack vs withdrawal. Both have
different subjective or fictional ideas about where safety lies.

Fictional goals: Vaihinger

Adler was influenced by a philosopher by the name of Hans
Vaihinger who published a book entitled The Philosophy of As If

Fictions are subjective ways to represent reality in

understandable, livable terms. They may be false, but they are useful.

For example, Vaihinger, who was a skeptic himself, said that

behaving as if there were a God lent meaning to peoples lives.

Fictions in science and business

Physicists for example, sometimes behave "as if" electricity
where a fluid, or "as if" light were discrete packets of energy.

Lawyers and others in the legal process behave as if

corporations were individual persons.

In the financial world, trusts are treated as persons as well.

How do we create fictions?

Individuals create fictions that are unique to them, that help
them cope etc

These fictions are created at least in part, in the unconscious, in

response to unconscious needs or fears

We are not fully aware of the fictions and fictional goals

underlying our actions and objectives.

Alfred Adler and religion

How does our concept of God fit with our desire to escape inferiority?
Why is a more "general" God as creative force etc. not as effective on a
personal level according to Adler?

How might our concept of God influence our social interest?

Read what Adler has to say on religion

Read here about Adler's conversion to protestantism. What was the

motive do you think?

Alfred Adler and pastoral psychology

Read an article about the usefulness of the Adlerian approach
in pastoral counseling

What do you think?

Our style of life

On the basis of our experience, biology, needs and fictions, we

develop our own unique pattern of character.

Adler calls this pattern of character our style of life.

Some of our style of life is determined, but Adler introduces an

element of free will, which he calls the creative power of the self,
which allows us to develop a constructive life style within the
limitations of our circumstances.

Neurotic strategies to approach life

Self absorption: centered on the self
Safeguarding strategies (defense mechanisms to avoid the anxiety of low
self-esteem or the fear of challenges)

Excuses and rationalizations

Aggressive strategies:
Depreciation of others
Accusation and blaming
Distancing strategies:
Moving backward (somewhat like regression)
Standing still
Hesitation (i.e. procrastination)
Construction of obstacles

How does a person choose a life style?

Adler often used early recollections in therapy to help people
see what patterns they adopted or interpretations they made. Insight
into those may help change. For example: someones whose earliest
memory is an accident that provoked a lot of attention, may have
developed a pampered child approach, wanting to be the center of
attention, avoiding autonomy etc.

Ones ordinal position within the family is also something Adler

considered significant

Birth order
First Born: possible envy at having been dethroned, but also
may identify w/ parent and be a helper and mentor. Sets the pace for
the others. Parents are more anxious

Second born: often more competitive.

Youngest child: more likely to be pampered, will be ambitious,

but may be discouraged too, which results in laziness

Only child: often sweet and too dependent, a people pleaser.

What does it mean to be mentally healthy? Three

essential components:
To work: vocational tasks, productive tasks of all kinds. These
tasks give the person a feeling of worth within society

To care for the larger community: societal tasks: friendship,

social interest (Gemeinschaftgefuhl)

To love: love tasks: relationship between the sexes (the least

important for Adler)

Adlers psychological theories are

More concrete and common-sense than those of Freud and

Jung
Less sytematic, and more superficial. For example, the role of
the unconscious is not clear, nor how freedom operates

Usable for short term therapy

More cognitive (thinking based)

Watch and listen

A 1929 video with sound of Alfred Adler summarizing his theory
(real player)

Adlerian therapy
Here is a transcript of a demonstration therapy session about
procrastination (a very common problem :-)) following an Adlerian method. Note
the concreteness and specificity.

What insight (or new direction on thought) was the client brought to? Do
you think the session was taking the client in a helpful direction?

What do you see as possible roots of procrastination? Does

procrastination have deeper roots (besides convenience and simple impulsivity)?
What are some "deeper reasons" people might procrastinate?

Adlerian child rearing

Some principles for child rearing. Adler stresses, among other
things, mutual respect, and also the use of natural consequences
(rather than artificial rewards and punishments).

Adler introduces the notion of parenting style and their

consequences. What do you think of this concept and the way he
applies it?

Adler Links
Alfred Adler Institutes of San Francisco and Northern
Washington. Lots of info here.

Alfred Adler Photo Gallery

Prof Anthony Bruck's personal remembrance of Adler

Dr Sophia deVries remembrances

An interesting short biography

The End
What do you think of Adler?