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Alfred Adler’s theory of personality and system of psychotherapy has been articulated since more than the half century. Since then, Adler’s ideas have been gradually infused the modern psychology. (Ellen Berger 1970, 645-648) Adler’s original things reflect the shift of psychoanalysis to ego psychology. Many psychoanalysists hail Alder as a pioneer for the latest developments in the field of psychoanalysis. (Ellen Berger 1970, 638) He observed that our society overvalues men and undervalues women and as a result both men and women are suffering. According to his perception men and women are of equal values. Many anthropologists, physicists and biologists’ work show the relationship of their work with the Adler’s concept that says that all living things and their proclivities are interconnected with each other. According to the Adler’s concept of the final goal, there is a fictional future reference point that is responsible to pull all the movement in the similar direction. This concept is the same as that of strange attractor in the chaos theory where strange attractor is a magnetic end point that is responsible to pull on and to set the limitations for a process. (Nelson 1991) The Core Of Adler’s Philosophy A very humanistic and optimistic view of life is the core of Adler’s philosophy. His psychology is a value-oriented psychology where all the human beings are capable for self-fulfillment, striving for self-improvement, capable of living together and they can contribute for the sake of common welfare. If the people will not cooperate with each other then there will be a risk of destruction of each other. Community Feelings People start feeling deep belonging to the race of humans when their social interes...
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...latedness: Evolution of a Fundamental Dialectic," American Psychologist, 1994, 49, 104-111. Müller, Alexander. You shall be a Blessing. San Francisco: The Alfred Adler Institute of San Francisco, 1992. Adler, Alfred. Cooperation Between the Sexes: Writings on Women, Love and Marriage, Sexuality and its Disorders. Edited and translated by Heinz L. Ansbacher and Rowena R. Ansbacher. New York: Jason Aronson, 1956. Vaihinger, Hans. The Philosophy of "As If": A System of the Theoretical, Practical and Religious Fictions of Mankind. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1925. Maslow, Abraham H. Motivation and Personality. Third edition. Revised by Robert Frager, James Fadiman, Cynthia McReynolds, and Ruth Cox. New York: Harper and Row, 1970. Adler, Alfred. What Life Could Mean to You. Trans. from the 1931 edition by Colin Brett. London: Oneworld Publications, 1992a.
Alfred Adler was born in 1870. He published his first major psychology book, Understanding Human Nature, in 1959. Alder has a passionate concern for the common person and he was very outspoken about child-rearing practices, school reforms, and prejudices that resulted in conflict. Alder created 32 child guidance clinics in the Vienna public schools and began training teachers, social workers, physicians, and other professionals. Alder believes that where we are striving to go is more important than where we have come from. He saw humans as both the c...
Freud, Sigmund. 1953-74. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works. 24 vols, trans. James Stachey. London: Hogarth.
“People are very complex. And for a psychologist, you get fascinated by the complexity of human beings, and that is what I have lived with, you know, in my career all of my life, is the complexity of human beings” - Daniel Kahneman.
An Adlerian is any person who applies the ideals and principles of Alfred Adler into their work; this does not restrict to just psychologists or counsellors, but instead applies to several occupations such as teachers or doctors. I’m an Adlerian because studying at Adler School of Professional Psychology I can rest assured knowing that once my degree is complete I will have a deep understanding of bringing together Adlerian principles into my counselling profession. Adlerian principles according to NASAP's (2004) newsletter “Adlerian Psychology-Theory of Human Behavior” can divide into different components: lifestyle, social embeddedness, phenomenology, teleology, creativity uniqueness, inferiority feelings, striving for superiority, vertical and level striving, and holism entrenched within all these components. As one notices, Adler had various principles and ideals, therefore if I was to pick just one that I hold dearly, it would be difficult to choose. Yet, in this paper, I will narrow my focus on addressing a few special components that are dear to me and finally select one that is most meaningful. I hope to use this as a base representation of the ideals I will apply in my work as an Adlerian practitioner.
Kurt Lewin, a German born man who left his home country during the Nazis time, came to the United States with the idea that Gestalt’s perspective could be applied to personality theory and social dynamics (Neill, J.). Lewin began with behavior, and then incorporated the idea of how people perceived the behaviors of themselves and others (Neil, J.). His differences were published in 1935 and was known as “Field Theory,” which would be something that set him apart from other theorist; in-fact he has done the complete opposite of the many before him (Book). This theory can relate to those that are from different physical and psychological environments.
Shields, S. 1975. Functionalism, Darwinism, and the psychology of women. American Psychologist, 30(7) (1935-990X), pp. 739-754. Available at: http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.hope.ac.uk/ehost/detail?sid=3fc226ef-3f32-4b57-9f0c-89acb4bcade1%40sessionmgr111&vid=4&hid=4101&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=pdh&AN=1975-29522-001 [Accessed: 10th Jan 2014].
Alfred Adler was an Austrian medical doctor and psychologist who was known as the founder of individual psychology. Alder’s theory of individual psychology included four aspects: the development of personality, striving towards superiority, psychological health and the unity of personality. He worked with Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud until Adler rejected Freud’s theories and continued to come up with different theories on his own. Alder believed that the unconscious and conscious worked in “union with another”, unlike Freud (Fisher). Alder also believed that dreams were problem solving devices and could help in mastering control by bringing dreams into the conscious mind and interpreting them. His theory was that there was a significant correlation between dreams and daily life. Adler believed the more dreams you had, the more often and likely you were to have problems in your daily life, and the less dreams you had, the less problems you would have in your daily life and you were likely to be psychologically healthy. Unlike Freud, Adler believes it is control, power and motivation that drives ones behavior instead of by sexual impulses. Adler also doesn’t believe that behaviors and actions are driven by the unconscious, as Freud believes. Adler believes the conscious and unconscious work the same way whether one...
Massey, R. F. (1986). Erik Erikson: New-Adlerian. Individual Psychology: The Journal of Adlerian Theory, Research & Practice, 42(1), 65. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
The theory included the phenomenon of enjoying pain and sadism, which is all about finding pleasure in pain. Freud ascertained that the unconscious constitutes of three senses. These senses include the life instinct, the Eros, which initiates skill improvement in an individual and helps them to be better, successful, people. Eros plays a key role in improving an individual’s personality. Another instinct is the sex sense which brings about libido energy to individuals, and bodily pleasures, such as having a meal or having a good conversation. The third instinct is known as Thanatos which is a death instinct. This deals with pushing people towards death. The superego is always alert to subside the pressures of Thanatos, but ultimately the unconscious takes full control (Myers 84). From this brief introduction, this paper is going to explore the psychoanalysis theory of personality, its key components, and its relevancy to the modern culture.
The Adlerian approach in therapy differs from all other approaches in its perception of human emotions and strivings. As the other theories solely focused on the past of humans and their unconscious minds, Adler and his followers stressed more on social interest and community feeling, even though they don’t ignore other factors such as one’s childhood events. The latter believed than people have an innate sense of inferiority that will make them pursue happiness, success as well as fulfill their ambitions. In other words, Adlerians tend to help clients in therapy sessions to become more aware of these free privileges that they can have access to. Hence, the therapy journey is characterized by four main phases through which the therapist hope to achieve his goals in accordance with the client’s case. First of all, the therapist will begin by establishing a healthy relationship with the client. Therefore he creates a secure environment for the client to let him feel that he can open up and describe his experiences without having to worry about being judged. The therapist will also set his goals clear, share them with the client, and provide him with important information about his rights (Corey, 2009). The second phase will focus then on exploring the client’s psychological dynamics and general information about the person’s lifestyle. The exploration takes place in two parts: the objective interview and the subjective interview. In the subjective interview, the therapist will assist the client in exploring persistent habits and patterns in his daily life. Whereas the objective interview will tackle more general ideas about the client’s medical and social history that may help identi...
The longevity of success using psychoanalysis becomes a testimony to Freud’s in-depth study of the human mind. His forty plus years of work in the field were spent on the development of the main principles of psychoanalysis along with the techniques and methods used by the analyst. His work was furthered by his daughter and later adopted then adapted by Erikson. What seemed so revolutionary in the 1890’s and beyond has now become widely accepted by most all schools of psychological thought and its study.
Somerville, John. The Strange Case of Modern Psychology. The Journal of Philosophy. Vol. 31. October 1934. pp. 571-577.
Maslow A (1971). The farther reaches of Human nature. The Viking press, Penguin books. p23.
Social control involves rules and behaviors that members of a society are expected to follow.
Deep in the minds of human beings lies a vast ocean of emotions and experiences. The human mind is often misconstrued and simplified by those who possess one, but delving deeper into the mind and it’s processes you see a whole other world that is veiled beneath the surface. One of the most famous examples of the human mind is the image of an iceberg, what is on the surface is so minimal compared to the immense body that lies underneath. Sigmund Freud was the father of psychoanalysis and believed in the idea of the unconscious and subconscious that help power who we are. Through psychoanalysis Freud began to reclaim the self as an individual and stressed the importance of the external world and it’s direct role with the internal realm of an individual. Although it was originally found to be a sort of therapy for those with mental illnesses, it has an interesting and analytical and philosophical view of the self, and through this spawned new beliefs in philosophy. Through the establishment of the id, superego, and ego, and the past’s affect on the shaping the present state of the self, psychoanalysis reclaims the self for an individual and is successful in doing so.