Alfred Adlerian Psychology

Alfred Adler has commonly been described as a man ahead of his time (Wedding & Corsini, 2014). He had several philosophical influences and spent all of his time reading, writing, and lecturing to share his powerful thoughts, ideas, and beliefs. The following will describe Alfred Adler’s personal history, major events that occurred in his life, and the contributions that he has made to the field of psychology. Alfred Adler was born on February 7th 1870 in Vienna (Wedding & Corsini, 2014). He was the third of seven children in his family, born to a Jewish grain merchant and his wife. Adler has been described as an average student who preferred playing outdoors rather than being cooped up in school. According to Boeree (2006), Adler was outgoing,

Life tasks are the main reasons of operation for people. These typically include work, socialization, and love. Safeguarding operations are the defense mechanisms people use to evade life tasks (Wedding & Corsini, 2014). Adlerian psychology believes that stress can be explained as an individual who is doubting his or her place in the world. It is also believed by Adlerians that there is no discrepancy between the conscious and the unconscious processes (Wedding & Corsini, 2014). Explained further, it is believed there is no unconscious place where ideas and impulses exist, however, people can still be unconscious of what they are doing (Wedding & Corsini, 2014). According to Adlerian psychology, movement can mean intentions as well as behavior. Adlerian psychotherapy focuses primarily on motivation modification, not simply behavior modification or changes in feelings and emotions (Wedding & Corsini, 2014). Overall, Adlerian psychology “does not dig deeply into any one idea or stage of development but rather chooses to look across situations and processes to detect patterns and themes” (Wedding & Corsini, 2014, p.

Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, Karen Horney, Rollo May, Erich Fromm, and Albert Ellis are just a few of the other important psychologists that have been influenced by Adler’s ideas (Cherry, 2010). Adlerian psychology is still striving today with forward movement and new innovations. There are several Adlerian schools located in the United States today offering opportunities for training and continuing education. The North American Society of Adlerian Psychology (NASAP) is an organization that continues to provide ongoing training, clinician collaboration, and newsletters (Wedding & Corsini, 2014). This organization also continues to publish the Journal of Individual Psychology which is a peer-reviewed journal that focuses on the research and articles related to the use of Adlerian principles and techniques in clinical work and education (Wedding & Corsini, 2014). Adlerian theories and concepts are also working on continuing to expand on the study of wellness; the interest in the physical, mental, and social well being of