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King Saud University
College of nursing
Psychiatric nursing department
Master program
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Objectives
At the end of this session the students
will be able to:
1. Discuss Adlerian’s perspective on human
growth and development
2. Contrast & camper between Fraud & Adler's
3. Application of Adlerian counseling and
psychotherapy.
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Outlines
 Introductions
 History
 Essential Adlerian concepts
 Advantage & disadvantage of Adlerian
Theory
 Critique
 Conclusion
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Introduction
I.
Adler's personality theory is referred to
as Individual psychology, as it focused
on the unique aspects of each
individual and refused the idea of
biologically predetermined motives as
proposed by the psychoanalysts. Also
heplaced much importance on birth
order.
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Adler proposed that each individual has an ideal self and
that the purpose is to strive to achieve that ideal, and
the motivation to do so was found within the
inferiority feelings, which can transform into
inferiority complexes if the individual is unable to
compensate.
Adler also proposed four personality types: the
dominant, the getting, the avoiding, and the socially
useful types.
Adler emphasized the concept of free-will rather
than adhering to the idea that humans are victims of
their selves and their childhood
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Because of this breach in beliefs, the relationship
between Freud and Adler was tenuous (weak).
Freud
Adler
Freud saw all human motivation reduced
to sex and aggression
Adler saw people as being motivated
mostly by social influences and the
striving for superiority or success.
Freud assumed that people have little or
no choice in shaping their personality
Adler believed that people are largely
responsible for who they are.
Freud’s assumption that present behavior
is caused by past experiences
Freud placed very heavy emphasis on
unconscious components of behavior
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Adler’s notion that present behavior is
shaped by people’s view of the future.
Adler believed that psychologically
healthy people are aware of what they are
doing and why they are doing it.
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History
 Adler's was born 1870; Died 1937
 As child was sickly, suffering from rickets & pneumonia
Theory was influence by a number of factors as:
 Competition with older brother (birth order)
 Illness (striving for superiority)
 Close relationship with father (rejected Oedipal
complex)
 War (idea of social interest)
 Split from Freud over pan- sexualize & Oedipal complex
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Cont.
 Alfred Adler (1870-1937) developed the first holistic theory of personality,
psychopathology, and psychotherapy that was intimately connected to
humanistic philosophy of living.
 His lectures and books for the general public are characterized by a crystal
clear common sense.
 His clinical books and journal articles reveal an uncommon understanding
of mental disorder, a deep insight into the art of healing, and a great
inspiration for encouraging optimal human development.
 In 1900 Adler began investigating psychopathology and in 1902 he became
an original member of Sigmund Freud's circle, which met to discuss
psychoanalytical matters.
 His disagreements with Freud began as early as 1907 – he dismissed Freud's
view that sexual conflicts in early childhood cause ...
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Adlerian-based scholarly, clinical and social
practices focus on the main seems of the theory


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
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Mental Health Prevention
Social Interest and Community Feeling
Holism and the Creative Self
Fictional Finalism, Teleology, and Goal constructs
Psychological and Social Encouragement
Inferiority, Superiority and Compensation
Life Style / Style of Life
Early Recollections (a projective technique)
Family Constellation and Birth Order
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Basic concepts of Adlerian Theory
1.Inferiority feelings and inferiority complex
2. Striving for superiority
3.Style of life
4. Social interest
5.Birth order
6. Fictional finalism
7.The creative self
8.Masculine protest
9.The interpretation of dreams
10.Theory of psychotherapy
“
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1. Inferiority Feelings
Early concept based on organ inferiority
People born with organ weaknesses that require
compensation to overcome
Broadened concept of feelings of inferiority
 Expanded to a sense of incompleteness
 Feeling motivate development
 Generally not a sign of abnormality but a cause for
improving one’s position in life
Can become exaggerated into an inferiority complex due to
 Physical limitations
 Parental neglect
 Parental overindulgence
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 One of the central ideas in Adlerian Psychology is the
individual's striving from a feeling of inferiority toward
a feeling of significance.
 The feeling of inferiority can be used as a stimulus for
striving or as a felt blockade and an excuse for not
striving.
 An individual who feels blocked from achievement in
one field may cross over to another field and
compensate or over-compensate for his feeling of
inferiority.
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2. STRIVING FOR SUPERIORITY (OR PERFECTION)
 The basic dynamic force between all human activity
striving from a feeling of inferiority to one of superiority.
 All individual progress, growth and development result
from the attempt to compensate for one's inferiorities,
be they or real.
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Striving for Superiority
 Concept evolved over the years
Organ
Inferiority
Aggressive
Drives
Masculine
Protest
Superiority
Striving
Perfection
Striving
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How does one strive toward the final goal?
Innate striving force
↓
Physical deficiencies
↓
Feelings of inferiority
/
Exaggerated feelings
↓
Personal gain
↓
Personal superiority
↓
Final Goal dimly perceived
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feeling of incompletion
↓
Social Interest
↓
Success
↓
Final goal clearly perceived
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3. Style of Life
Adler used the terms "style of life," "pattern of
life," "life plan," "Life scheme," and "line of
movement" interchangeably.
For Adler, the individual's STYLE OF LIFE is
one's personality, the unity of the personality,
the individual form of creative opinion about
oneself, the problems of life and his whole
attitude to life and others.
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Four types of Style of Life (typology)
Emerges from combining degrees of activity with social
interest.
Socially useful person. High social interest and high
degree of activity.
Ruling person: Low social interest and high degree of
activity. Out for own self interest, not others. Might be
persecutor
Getting person: Take all and give nothing.
Recluse: Low social interest and low activity.
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Basic life styles
(1) The well-adjusted does not strive for personal
superiority, but seeks to solve his problems in
ways that are useful to other as well as himself.
(2) The second type wants to prove his personal
superiority by ruling others.
(3) The third type is the getting type.
They want to get everything through others without
any effort or struggle of their own.
(4) The fourth tries to avoid every decision.
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4. Social Interest
Social interest comprised of
 Need to develop social feeling
 Need to associate/cooperate with others
 Adler said that man is not bad by nature
Social interest is inborn but that inborn quality is brought to its
fullness by guidance and training.
The child comes into this world completely dependent upon others.
A person's style of life cannot be understood without
considering the people whom he comes in contact.
The style of life is influenced mostly by the quality of the
individual's SOCIAL INTEREST.

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5. Birth Order
 Adler focused on child’s perception of the family’s
dynamics
 Relationship with both parents seen important to
development
 Mother played critical role in early life
 Enhances infant’s social interest
 First to interpret society to child
 Encourages interest in others
 Teaches reciprocity
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Birth Order: The First Born
 Inexperienced parents spend inordinate amount of
time with the child
 Dethroned by arrival of second child
 Experiences loss of singular position
 If excessively pampered experiences resentment
 As oldest child inherits position of responsibility
 Understands both significance and exercise of power
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Birth Order: The First Born
 Interested in preserving tradition
 As adult
 Organized, responsible, conservative
 If deficit of social interest, insecure, hostile, suspicious
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Birth Order: The Second Born
 Shares personal time and attention
 Unconcerned with loss of power
 If older child is supportive develops efforts to excel
 If older child is resentful develops irrationally high
goals and tend to fail
 Typically strives in opposite direction of oldest child
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Birth Order: The Middle Child
 Often believes self to be in unfair position
 Strives to establish themselves outside the family
 Thrive on personal relationships
 Often manipulative and have strong negotiation
skills
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Birth Order: The Youngest Child
 Often overindulged
 Since no younger competition may be self assured
and high achiever
 If over-pampered may become dependent and
manipulative
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Birth Order: The Only Child
 First born who is never dethroned(defeat)
 Influenced by adults and matures early.
 May experience difficulty in social situations.
 Develops rich imagination and creativity.
 Does not learn to share.
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6. Fictional Finalism
Adler's Fictional Finalism is an interesting idea
for hypnotherapist.
Fictional Finalism simply states that people act
as much from the "as if" as from reality.
One of the understandings of the subconscious
mind is that whatever the subconscious mind
accepts as true, it acts "as if" it is true whether
it is or not.
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7. Creative Self
 emphasizes the existential philosophy of free will and
self determination. Personality is self-created. People
assign meaning to their lives according to their
perceptions of the world, themselves, and others.
People have environmental and genetic influences on
them, but they are free to act on these influences
however they wish. These influences may provide the
bricks of the self, but how individuals stack them is up
to their
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8. Masculine protest
Feelings of inferiority is overcome by compensation
through what he termed “masculine protest”, a
tendency to become strong and aggressive, in both
males and females. (Note the influence of the
patriarchal culture from which he came: masculine =
strong, feminine = weak). Feelings of inferiority serve
as a motivator for all personal accomplishments. But
they can also create neurosis. If the feelings are so
overwhelming that the person is prevented from
accomplishing, the person has an inferiority complex.
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9.Dreams
 Cannot foretell the future but can provide clues for
solving future problems
 “Everything can be different”, that is, if on interpretation
doesn’t feel right try another
 Dreams can be self-deceptive and are best interpreted by
someone besides the dreamer
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10. Psychotherapy
 Psychopathology results from lack of courage, exaggerated
feelings of inferiority, and underdeveloped social interest
 The chief purpose of psychotherapy is to enhance courage,
lessen feelings of inferiority, and encourage social interest.
 This is difficult because patients hold on to their existing,
confortable view of themselves.
 To overcome resistance to change, the therapist asks
questions like “what would you do if I cured you
immediately?”
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Psychotherapy
Goals of psychotherapy
 Establish collaborative relationship based on empathy &
respect
 Gain comprehensive understanding of client’s lifestyle





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Dynamics of family constellation
Childhood disorders
Day/night dreams
Early memories
Exogenous factors (what was present at onset of disorder)
Basic mistakes (irrational ideas in style of life)
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Psychotherapy
 Goals of psychotherapy
 Explain client’s lifestyle
 Assist the client in new options
 Therapeutic relationship
 Viewed as partnership
 Supportive
 Empathy & understanding openly expressed
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Psychotherapy
Initial procedures and strategies
 Assessment a continuous process
 Unique lifestyle of client and therapist determine
approach
 Behavior viewed as purposeful
 Treatment viewed as collaborative effort
 Resistance viewed as an incongruence in Tx and client's
goals
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Psychotherapy
 The course of Treatment
 Family constellation
 Earliest recollection
 Day/night dreaming
 Interpretation
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Psychotherapy
 Additional techniques in treatment
 Surprise tactic
 Anti-suggestion
 Confrontation
 Spitting in the client’s soup
 Act as if
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Comparison of Safeguarding Techniques
Adler’s Safeguarding Techniques
Freud’s Defense Mechanisms
1. Limited mostly to the construction of
neurotic style of life
Found in everyone
2. Protect the person’s fragile selfesteem
from public disgrace
Protect the ego from the pain of anxiety
3. Can be partly conscious
Operate only on an unconscious level
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Adler’s Safeguarding Techniques
Freud’s Defense Mechanisms
4. Common types include:-
Common types include:-
a. Excuses
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
b. Depreciation
*Repression
* Accusation
* Self-accusation
c.Withdrawal obstacles
Aggression
Reaction formation
Displacement
Fixation
Regression
Rationalization
Introjection
Projection
Sublimation
Undoing
* moving backwards
* standing still
* hesitating
* constructing
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GOALS OF THERAPY
1. Creating the collaborative relationship
2 .Assessing the psychological dynamics operating in the
client
3 . Encouraging insight and self-understanding by
associating early life experiences with presenting neurosis
(“How would your life be different, and what would you do
differently, if you did not have this problem?”)
4 . Reorienting and reeducating: courage and optimism
awakened
5 .Moving from “felt minus” to “felt plus”: finding meaning in
life
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TECHNIQUES OF THERAPY
The four entrance gates to mental life:
1. Analysis of birth order: each child has a different
experience; first, second, youngest, only
2. First memories: one’s subjective starting point that shapes
the world view
3. Dream analysis: expression of one’s lifestyle; dreams are
self-deceptive and therefore unhealthy; Adler believed that
healthy people did not dream
4. Mannerisms: eye contact, distance from others, body
language, dress, vocabulary, walk, etc.
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Empirical evidence for birth order as a variable in personality:
controversial topic from “sheer waste of time and money”
to “plays a bit part in the drama of sibling difference”.
What we do know:
1. Firstborns: more responsible and achievement oriented;
resistant to innovations, new ideas; comfortable with the
known; defender of the status quo; more rule-bound and
right-thing oriented
2. Laterborns: more socially successful; typically lower selfesteem; more accepting of innovations, more challenging
of the status quo; questioning and rebelling; searches for
an unoccupied family niche and is more open to new
experiences; more versatile.
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Adler’s Contribution
Emphasis on social variables, family constellation
Lifestyle
Inferiority Complex
Importance of subjective reality
Personal freedom and responsibility in living life
Forerunner of Existential-Humanistic movement
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Where Adlerian Approaches are Applied?
 Education
 Parent Education-Children the Challenge-Rudolph
Dreikurs & Soltz, 1964
 Marriage Counseling
 Family Counseling
 Group Work
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Advantages of Adlerian Theory
 It can be used for numerous issues and disorders.
 Uses encouragement.
 It is phenomenological.
 It does not consider people to be predisposed to
anything.
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Disadvantages of Adlerian Theory
 The amount of family and lifestyle information that is
collected.
 Sometimes difficult to do the interpretations, especially the
dreams.
 Adlerian therapy works best with highly verbal and
intelligent clients. This might leave out many people who
do not fit that category.
 Might be too lengthy for managed care.
 Adlerians do not like to make diagnoses as it labels people.
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Applications of Individual Psychology
 Family Constellation
*Birth order
 Early Recollection
*ER are always consistent with people’s present style of life
and their subjective account of these experiences yields
clues to understanding both their final goal and their
present style of life.
*ER’s effect how one sees one’s self
*ER’s does not determine the style of life but rather ER’s
are simply shaped by present style of life
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Critique
 not falsifiable
 average in generating research
 organizes research well
 guides everyday action very well (5)
 low internal consistency – Poorly defined terms
 emphasizes free will & choice
 is a very optimistic theory
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Cont.
 on causality this theory is teleological in nature (is
moving forward and individuals are motivated by
future goals)
 is both conscious/unconscious
 emphasizes social interests
 while emphasizing the unique nature of each
individual
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Criticisms
 Vaguely defined terms and concepts not conducive to
research
 Birth order research has had mixed results
 Concept of creative self provides such flexibility in
interpreting reality that it becomes impossible to predict
adult personality
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Conclusion
 Although Adler's theory may be less interesting than Freud's, with its
sexuality, or Jung's, with its mythology, it has probably struck you as
the most common-sensical of the three. Students generally like Adler
and his theory. In fact, quite a few personality theorists like him, too.
Maslow, for example, once said that, the older he gets, the more right
Adler seems. If you have some knowledge of Carl Rogers' brand of
therapy, you may have noticed how similar it is to Adler's. And a
number of students of personality theories have noted that the
theorists called Neo-Freudians -- Horney, Fromm, and Sullivan -should really have been called Neo-Adlerians.
 And so the "positives" of Adler's theory don't really need to be listed:
His clear descriptions of people's complaints, his straight-forward and
common-sense interpretations of their problems, his simple
theoretical structure, his trust and even affection for the common
person, all make his theory both comfortable and highly influential.
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Reference
Ivey, A. E., D’Andrea, M., Ivey, M. B. and Morgan, L. S. (2002). Theories of
counseling
and psychotherapy: A multicultural perspective, 5th ed. Boston, MA.:
Allyn &
Bacon.
James, R. K. & Gilliland, B. E. (2003). Theories and strategies in counseling and
psychotherapy, 5th ed. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Kottler, J. A. (2002). Theories in counseling and therapy: An experiential
approach.
Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
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Cont.
 Oberst, Ursula, & Stewart, Alan. Adlerian
Psychotherapy: An Advanced Approach to Individual
Psychology. (2003). Brunner-Routledge. ISBN 1-58391122-7.
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