Adlerian Open-Forum Family Counseling

Open-forum family counseling, sometimes called demonstration family counseling or demonstration therapy, began with the work of Alfred Adler and his associates in Vienna. Following the Great War, Adler established more than 30 child guidance centers in Vienna, where he and his associates would put [Page 21]the concept of a community feeling into practical applications. In front of often large community and professional audiences, Adler would interview the parents and teachers of troubled or “troubling” children. It was common for Adler to ask where the child came in the family constellation, what common misbehaviors were, and what the parents or teachers had tried to do about it. From this information, Adler would formulate a hypothesis about the purpose or motivation for the child’s misbehavior. His hypotheses ...