ADLERIANAPPROACH

Adlerian Counseling

OAdlerian Counseling includes individual, developmental, and social psychology.

OIt focuses on human wellness, individual growth and expansion, and social interest .

OIt is aimed at helping the client lead a socially useful life by encouraging the re-alignment of the individual interests with that of society.

OIt is humanistic, holistic, phenomenological, teleological, field-theoretical, and socially-oriented.

OThe interpretation is upon purpose and not upon cause, upon movement and not upon description.

OThe main goal of the Adlerian Counseling process is to aid the client to realize his priorities and to decide whether or not it is worth paying the price behaviorally to change his present life style.

OThe process enables the client to gain insight into himself and to eventually take courage to risk some personal safety for social usefulness, greater happiness and satisfaction in life.

Assessment Techniques

Family Constellation

OIn therapy, Adler almost always asked patients about their family constellation, that is, their birth order, the gender of their siblings,

and the age spread between them.OOne of Adler’s most enduring contributions is the idea that order of birth

is a major social influence in childhood, one from which we create our style of life.

Position Positive Trait Negative Trait

Oldest Child Good organizers, nurturing, protective

Exaggerated feeling of power; unconscious hostility; fights for acceptance; must always be “right“

Position Positive Trait Negative Trait

whereas others are always “wrong” highly critical of others; uncooperative

Position Positive Trait Negative Trait

Second/ Middle Child

Highly motivated cooperative

Highly competitive, Early discouraged

Youngest Child

Realistically ambitious

Pampered style of life, dependent on others

Wants to excel in everything Unrealistically ambitious

Only Child Socially Mature

Exaggerated feelings of superiority Low feeling of cooperation inflated sense of self Pampered style of life.

Early RecollectionOAdler believed that reports by patients of their earliest memories provided valuable insights into their unique styles of life.

Early RecollectionOThey still revealed important meanings, and gave glimpses into the person’s strivings for superiority.

Early Recollection

OThe primary interest of the person’s life revolved around the remembered incidents.

Early Recollection Theme:

Adult Personality

Memories of beatings, abandonment by one or both parents (emotional deprivation)

Alcoholic, Depressed

Early Recollection

Theme:

Adult Personality

Accidents, losing parents either temporarily or permanently, or being bullied by other children

Highly anxious individuals

Punishment /Danger

Hostility

Birth of a sibling Sense of dethronement

Memories focused on one parent

Preference for that parent

Dream Analysis

ODreams are goal-oriented rather then reflections of the past.

Dream Analysis

OThey reveal the mood that we want to feel and suggest how we might deal with the future problem or task.

Basic Terminologies

CompensationOOur innate attempts to overcome our real or imagined inferiorities.

CompensationOWe are driven by the need to overcome this sense of inferiority and to strive for increasingly higher levels of development.

INFERIORITY COMPLEXOExaggerated feeling of personal inferiority

OHave poor opinion of themselves

OFeelings of helplessOInability to cope with the demands of life

Superiority Complex

OThis involves an exaggerated opinion of one’s abilities and accomplishments.

Superiority Complex

OBoasting, vanity, self-centeredness, and a tendency to denigrate others.

Style of LifeOA unique pattern of characteristics, behaviors, and habits.

OEverything we do is shaped and defined by our unique style of life.

OThe style of life becomes the guiding framework for all later behaviors OAdler suggest that the style of life is so firmly crystallized by the age of 4 or 5 that it is difficult to change thereafter.

Social Interest

OThe individual’s innate potential to cooperate with other people to achieve personal and societal goals.

OThe only gauge to be used in judging the worth of a person.

OIt is the standard to be used in determining the usefulness of a life.