A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

“When you really exhaust an experience you always reverence and love it.”

-Albert Camus

• Alfred Adler (1870-1937) Vienna, Austria. Adler was sickly and nearly died of Pneumonia at age 4. He struggled within his family for a stable place amongst his siblings, was plagued by feelings of inferiority and low expectations from his family and teachers (they advised him to become a Cobbler.)

• He rose to the top of his class, Studied Medicine at The University of Vienna eventually specializing in Neurology, Psychiatry, and childhood incurable diseases.

• Adler was an original member and eventual President of The Viennese Psychoanalytical Association from which he departed in 1911. Freud denounced him as a heretic.

A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY (CONT.)

• After this period of approximately 10 years collaborating with Freud, he moved towards ideas centered in personality integration, away from Freudian determinism and toward purposeful individual teleology. He believed we each create for ourselves a unique style of existence that is a expression of desired goals and a movement toward these goals.

• He passionately worked toward reforms in child-rearing and school practices. And wrote in jargon free prose directed toward the general public, selling hundreds of thousands of copies of his work Understanding Human Nature in the U.S. alone. Adler worked with large audiences of social workers, physicians and teachers in demonstration workshops, founded clinics, and lectured tirelessly until his death of Heart failure in 1937in The Netherlands.

RUDOLF DREIKURS

• 1897-1972

• Born in Vienna, developed Adler’s into a logistical measn for

understanding the misbehavior of children.

• Claimed misbehavior stemmed one of four mistaken goals by the child

1)Undue attention 2)power 3)revenge 4)avoidance

• He was an American Psychiatrist who is chiefly responsible for

popularizing Adler’s work in The U.S.

• Wrote over a dozen books on parenting and child discipline.

• Died in Chicago

ADLER: ONE OF THE FIRST GROUP THERAPISTS

Jacob Moreno first coined, “group Therapy,” in 1931 in reference to the

Psychodrama groups he had had been employing in his practice

throughout the 1920’s.

Adler likewise first began utilizing a, “group therapy approach,” in his Child

Guidance centers in 1921 making him, along with Moreno and a few

others, one of the first to employ the technique.

Adler believed our problems have strong social stems and that groups

provided a microcosmic social context in which social conflict could

unfold in a controlled and safe way allowing for patient development of

sense of belonging, social connectedness, and community.

Interpersonal

Content

Interpersonal

Process

Group Process

Intrapersonal Change

SCHISM WITH FREUD: INDIVIDUAL

PSYCHOLOGYF R E U D I A N

P S Y C H O A N A L Y S I S

• Human motivation is reducible to sex and aggression (deterministic)

• People cannot change their temperaments or personalities

• Behavior is a result of past experiences.

• Subconscious motivations have a primary role in behavior.

A D L E R I A N

I N D I V I D U A L P S Y C H O L O G Y

• Human motivation is toward social success and superiority (etiological)

• People Determine who they are and possess the capacity for change.

• Behavior is a means toward a speculative goal.

• Most people are aware of what they are doing and why they are doing it.

Divisions within Division, and Schisms

within Schism. ALL Divide and Conquer.

-anonymous

THE PRIMARY POINT OF CONTENTION

Freud

Present personality and behavior is a result of formative

event in the first few years of life.

(deterministic motivations)

Adler

Present personality and behavior is orientated toward

achieving a lifestyle formulated in first few years of life.

(teleological motivations)

Current Ontology of Client

Adler’s early theories seemed to almost completely deny the subconscious and

attribute even erratic, neurotic behavior to a conscious stratagem toward achieving

final goals.

He seems to have backed off of this contention somewhat in later years conceding

An increasing amount of motivations to formative events and childhood attachment,

But always maintained optimism is peoples ability to understand themselves, change

faulty interpretations, and lean to habituate more effect interpersonal behavior.

CENTRAL TENETS OF INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY

1. The motivational force behind all behavior is a striving for success and

superiority.

We are born weak and helpless which engenders feelings of

inferiority.

2. Individual Subjective perceptions mold personality and behavior.

People have a drive toward completeness or wholeness. This is

the impetus toward the goal of superiority.

3. The dynamic interplay between our current self and our ideal goals

creates a motivating cycle which moves us constantly toward

superiority and away from perceived inferiority.

Feelings of Inferiority

Goal of Superiority

CENTRAL TENETS OF INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY

(CONT.)3. Personality is unified and consistent.

As young children we begin to formulate our ideas for individual success (harkens to Erickson’s stages) All our behavior, even seemingly erratic, is toward a determined goal.

4. Human activity is evaluated through it’s effect on social interests.

We may strive for a personal superiority detached from social good if our feelings of inferiority are exaggerated.

Psychologically health people promote social interests and success for mankind. (This social interest depends on a healthy relationship with both parents)

Gemeinschaftsgefuhl- Social feeling or community feeling.

Innate Striving Force/ Physical

Deficiencies/ Feeling of Inferiority

Exaggerated Feelings

Personal Gain/ Personal Superiority/

Final Goal Dimly Perceived

Normal Feelings of Incompletion

Social Interest/ Success/ Final Goal Clearly Perceived

CENTRAL TENETS OF INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY

(CONT.)5. The self-consistent personality manifests itself in a style of life.

A healthy style of life (developed by age four or five) involves a persons

interests, goals, self-concept feelings to others. It is a the socially

benevolent way in which people solve the three problems of life.

a) neighborly love

b) sexual love

c) occupation

6. Style of life lies in individual creative power.

Using your genetics and life circumstances as the bricks and mortar to

produce a unique architecture of social and personal utility.

THE CYCLE OF NEUROSIS

Experiences Of The Past

Subjective Interpretations

Unhealthy Conclusions

Understanding of The Present

Self Destructive

Actions

Confirmation of Subjective

Interpretations

Experiences within group therapy, using the group to reflect behavior, helps

Individuals to discard faulty beliefs, mistaken notions, and fruitless pursuits.

This cycle can thus be broken.

New Shared Experiences

Holistic Group interpretations

More accurate Conclusions

Better understanding of Self and Present

Self-Affirming Actions

Confirmation of New

Experiences

The Cycle of Group Process

THE ESSENTIAL LIFE TASKS

Because we are primarily social beings our well-being depends on how we

accomplish three main life tasks. Neurosis can arise from desperate

attempts to maintain the completion of these tasks, even when they are

no longer healthy connections for us, or by purposelessness derived

from not completing these tasks.

• Building Friendships (social task)

• Establishing Intimacy (love/marriage task)

• Contributing to Society (occupational task)

Dreikurs and Mosak add two additional tasks (1966,1967)

• Self (getting along with ourselves task)

• Existential (spiritual task)

These areas and the individual values and beliefs surrounding them can be

discussed in a group and destructive beliefs pertaining to self or society can be

Replaced constructive beliefs.

ADLERIAN THERAPY GROUP-ALL ARE WELCOME

Groups are based on accepting ourselves and others as imperfect.

They avoid the alienation endemic to society by not pre-screening for

group candidacy or denying admission to anyone.

To do so would debase the concept of accepting the varying levels of

imperfection within society at large.

The taciturn, narcissistic, and disruptive, who might be screened out, are

seem as the individuals with the most to gain in personality adjustment,

maturity, and feelings of inadequacy.

THE FAMILY CONSTELLATION

• Children learn a great deal about life from their parents (Bandura’s Modeling)

• They learn even more from their interactions with their siblings. One’s perceived position within the family influences later personality development. (But does not dictate this development or preclude it’s purposeful alteration)

• Evaluating Family Relationships

1. How does each pair show affection.

2. How do they handle disagreements.

3. How do they divide and share roles.

• Early family life can be influential in the formation of self-perception and outlook upon society and the world, but the beliefs engendered in family of origin are not causal or subject to remediation and revision.

TRAITS BY BIRTH ORDER (ADLER’S

GENERALIZATIONS)

Positive Traits

Oldest

Nurturing and Protective

Good organizer

Second Child

Motivated, Cooperative, Moderately Competitive

Youngest Child

Realistically ambitious

Only Child

Socially mature

Negative Traits

Oldest

Anxious, Hostile, Exaggerated Feeling of

Power, Critical, Uncooperative, always

“Right”

Second Child

Highly Competitive

Easily Discouraged

Youngest Child

Pampered, Dependent, Unrealistically Ambitious

Only Child

Exaggerated Superiority, Uncooperative, Inflated

Ego, Pampered

PHENOMENOLOGICAL DYNAMICS

Lifestyle

Creativity

Private Logic

Fictional Finalism

A movement toward an

Individual ideal. The

imagined goal of

perfection we pursue our

entire lives but never attain.

Formed by our beliefs about

ourselves and the world. Provides

the lens through which we see the world.The universal human capacity

To influence and create events.

The patterns by which we orient

ourselves in the social world. A conceptualization

of our unique existence in the world.

GROUP LEADER: ROLE AND FUNCTION

Adlerian group facilitators are actively involved in an egalitarian manner with each member of the group and model the behaviors sought as goals for the members including showing imperfection, being willing to take risks, being collaborative, and having enthusiasm for the usefulness of the endeavor.

They lead each group as if it were the last. They provide the structure which allow for an environment that can facilitate interaction, involvement, acceptance, and confrontation.

They

1. Help members define personal goals

2. Conduct psychological assessments of group members

3. Offer tentative interpretations

4. Guide group assessment

ADLERIAN PROCESS STAGES1. Establishing Cohesion Between Members

Mutual respect and involvement must prevail. Cooperation is fostered by the facilitator by building rapport and cohesion. Mutually agreed upon goals, that are meaningful to the group, are established as areas to investigate and change.

2. Analysis and Assessment

Goals and current lifestyles are assessed. Issues of current functioning, and feelings of self-worth are explored. Use of family constellation, birth-order, early recollections, dreams, and artwork are used to assess each member’s private logic. (life convictions and core assumptions about self and the world)

3. Awareness and Insight

Understanding gained in stage two is translated into awareness and insight as explanations for current behaviors. The group members mirror each other and provide collective insight and interpretations for each other. Personal goals and faulty notions are examined. Personal roles in the creation and maintenance of problems as well as means to solve problems are explored.

4. Reorientation and Reeducation

Implementing new beliefs about self, life, and the world to supplant faulty one’s is imperative in this stage. This is the main working stage. Taking risks and making changes is encouraged. Group members adopt hope in their ability to change and realize new options and this hope is mirrored in each member and is synergistic. Encouragement opens up possibilities, new creative avenues for living, and positive asset recognition. Members are challenged to act , “as if,” and to, “catch themselves,” repeating old behaviors. Insight is turned into action.

EARLY RECOLLECTIONS

• Typically memories before 10 years of age are most relevant.

• ER’s, “tell on a client,” as to what is important to them and provide a wealth

of insight to the Adlerian Therapist about the client.

• ER’s leave us with misconceptions of meaning based on our youthful

subjective interpretations and lead to, “basic mistakes,” that effect current

lifestyle. (These are akin REBT Cognitive Distortions)

1. Overgeneralizations

2. Unrealistic goals regarding security (in the uninterrupted continuity of the

three main life tasks)

3. Misperceptions of life demands

4. Minimizations of one’s value

5. Faulty Values (Lacking Social Interest)

• “The Question”-akin to the miracle question used in other brief therapies

such as “Solution Focused Therapy.”

1. “How would you life be different if you didn’t have these concerns?”

2. “What would change in your life if you had a magic pill to make you well?”

ADLERIAN GROUP THERAPY

A D V A N T A G E S

Since Adler’s Individual Psychology was intrinsically social in nature, a group setting is ideal for restructuring of social perceptions.

The short–term nature of Adlerian therapy keeps therapists and clients focused on active change.

Lends itself especially well to school counseling in it’s search for meaning, encouragement, social dimensions, self-esteem building, and work with emotional intelligence.

Works especially well in multicultural contexts because of it’s emphasis on self-in-social relation, the role of family, it’s holistic approach, and it’s communal orientation.

D I S A D V A N T A G E S

Requires some introspection on the part of clients to connect earlier experiences with current lifestyles.

Requires more than a superficial understanding to be effectively employed by a therapist.

Is culturally limited in contexts where equality is not a given, it relies heavily on social equality.

Short-term groups may not have the time or interest to explore family constellations or early recollections.

SOURCES CITED

Feist & Feist. Theories of Personality. New York: McGraw Hill, 2006. Print.

Corey, Gerald. Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy.

Belmont: Brooks/Cole, 2009. Print.

Corey, Gerald. Theory and Practice of Group Counseling. Belmont:

Brooks/Cole, 2008. Print.