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 Adler’s 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 Adler’s view, the unconscious helps us problem solve.
 The fear of death was more prevalent in Adler’s 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 one’s 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:
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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 one’s 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 people’s 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)
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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: someone’s 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.
 One’s 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)
Adler’s 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.
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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?