Adlerian Therapy
View of Human Nature
Stress choice and responsibility, meaning
in life, and the striving for competence or
perfection.
Focus on inferiority feelings---motivate to
strive for success (superiority)
Focus on subjective experiences
Adler’s Theory of Personality
Lifestyle
Social interest
Birth order
Inferiority and Superiority
Lifestyle
The lifestyles are based on social interest and
degree of activity and energy.
Four types of lifestyles
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the Socially useful type
the Ruling type
the Getting type
the Avoiding type
Social Interest
Social interest: a sense of identification and
empathy with others.
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Parent-child relationship as a model of social interest
Community feeling: a sense of social
connectedness
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Many problems are related to the fear of not being
accepted by the groups we values. Then, anxiety is
the result.
Birth Order
Oldest child
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receives more attention, spoiled, center of attention
Second of only two
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behaves as if in a race, often opposite to first child
Middle
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often feels squeezed out
Youngest
the baby
Only
 does not learn to share or cooperate with other
children
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Inferiority and Superiority
The striving for superiority or competence is
nature, whereas the superiority complex is not.
superiority was a means of inflating one’s selfimportance in order to overcome inferiority
feelings.
People may try to present themselves as strong
and capable to maintain their mistaken feelings
of superiority, when actually they are feelings
less capable than others.
Therapeutic Goals
Building a Collaborative relationship
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Develop a sense of belonging
Encouragement is the most powerful method
for a person to change
Changing the patterns of basic mistakes
(private logic)
Therapist’s function and role
Identify the patterns of basic mistakes
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Lack of confidence, mistrust, unrealistic ambition
Conduct an assessment
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Gather information through family constellation, early
recollections, or lifestyle assessment
Focus on clients’ interpretation of experiences
Develop alternative options
Client’s Experience in Therapy
Are not aware of the basic mistake

Help to discover the motivation of basic mistake
Do not know what to do differently
Fear of letting go the old patterns for unpredictable
new alternative options
Cling to old patterns even though it is maladaptive
Relationship b/w Therapist & Client
Cooperation, mutual trust, respect
Making a contract with clients
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Detail what they want
What is preventing them from reaching goals
How to change unproductive behavior into
constructive behavior
How to make use of their strengths
Therapeutic Techniques & Procedures
1. Establishing the relationship
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Deeply care and involve
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Identity personal issues
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Focus on person not the problem
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Increase the awareness of strengths
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Focus on subjective experiences and core
patterns (basic mistake or private logic)
Therapeutic Techniques & Procedures
2. Exploring the individual’s dynamics
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Client tells his or her story; clients as experts
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The motivation behind basic mistakes
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through
 Family dynamics and Constellation
 Early Recollections
 Dream
 Personality priorities
 Basic mistake or private logic
Basic Mistake (Private Logic)
Overgeneralizations
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There is no fairness in the world
Impossible goals
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I must please everyone in order to feel loved by others
Misperceptions of life and life’s demands
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Life is very difficult for me
Minimization or denial of one’s basic worth
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I am basically stupid.
Faulty values
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I must get to the top, regardless of who gets hurt in the
process
Personality priorities (see handout)
Superiority (or significance)
Control
Comfort
Pleasing
Therapeutic Techniques & Procedures
3. Encouraging self-understanding and insight
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Insight: an understanding of motivations that operate
in a client’s life
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Disclosure and interpretations are techniques that
facilitate the process of gaining insight.
Therapeutic Techniques & Procedures
4. Helping with reorientation
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Putting insights into practice
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Increasing a sense of belonging and being valued
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Decreasing withdrawal from life tasks or selfprotection
Therapeutic Techniques & Procedures
4. Helping with reorientation
 Encouragement
 No intervention is more important than
encouragement
 Help clients identify self-defeating patterns
 Make use of assets, strengths, and resources
 Search for new possibilities
 Making a difference
From multicultural perspectives
Contributions to multicultural counseling
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Social equality, sensitive to cultural and gender
issues
Focusing on a person in a social context
Social interests, sense of belonging, cooperation
(instead of competition)
Focus on family
Subjective experience (unique world of a person)
From multicultural perspectives
Limitations to multicultural counseling
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Self as the locus of change and responsibility
may be problematic for some clients
Detailed explorations of one’s early family
experiences may violate some cultural value
Some clients may expect therapists to provide
them with solutions to the problems