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Adlerian Therapy

Adlerian therapy refers to counseling and psychotherapeutic interventions that are associated with the individual psychology of Alfred Adler (1870–1937), a Viennese psychologist and contemporary of Sigmund Freud. Individual psychology emphasizes an examination of the individual's social and cultural embeddedness, a holistic view of personality, taking personal responsibility, striving to achieve life goals, growth towards a sense of completion and belonging, and a practical approach to meeting life's challenges. Because these values are so universally shared, a wide variety of mental health professionals use classical and contemporary expressions of Adlerian therapy in their work.

Theoretical Basis of Adlerian Therapy

Adler believed that people's pursuit of their overarching life goals pulled them from positions of inferiority, inactivity, and inertness to positions of mastery and completion. Many factors affect the nature of people's life goals and the manner in which they pursue them, including heredity, pre- and perinatal influences, socioeconomic and cultural contexts, health, the family emotional environment, and school experiences. In the process of negotiating these goals, Adler contended, all people must address three tasks: how to find a productive work role in life, how to establish and maintain an emotionally close relationship with a life partner and family members, and how to contribute meaningfully to the community of humankind.

Adlerian therapists believe that social interest leads to and is a marker of psychological health. The essence of social interest involves striving to achieve one's life goals while meeting life's tasks in a socially responsible and supportive manner. Some individuals, however, strive so single-mindedly after particular goals, which offer only a fleeting sense of efficacy or esteem, that life tasks go unmet and other people are viewed as obstacles that must be manipulated, mastered, or vanquished. This approach is the antithesis of healthy mental functioning.

Adler believed that the roots of unhealthy goal striving developed during childhood from a confluence of variables such as dysfunctional family environments that were discouraging and disempowering, undiagnosed or untreated psychological or medical conditions, and lack of encouragement. Such conditions overwhelm the child's ability to develop a healthy lifestyle and a sense of belonging. Rudolf Dreikurs, an Adlerian scholar, observed that under these circumstances children may act out or misbehave as a means of seeking attention, becoming more powerful, exacting revenge, or withdrawing from a task or interaction. Adults also may develop self-defeating life goals that give rise to physical or psychological symptoms and to interpersonal difficulties. Adlerian therapy seeks to determine the early-in-life causes of unhealthy, self-defeating life goals, and to reorient the individual toward a healthy style of life.

Processes of Adlerian Therapy

Dreikurs identified four phases that characterize Adlerian therapy. The initial phase involves establishing the therapeutic relationship. This is done by enlisting the client's cooperation, addressing and resolving immediate crises, understanding the presenting problem, and identifying possible goals for the therapy.

The second phase of therapy involves the use of semistructured interview and standardized measures to assess the client's lifestyle (i.e., personality). The lifestyle assessment process provides the clinician with essential information and creates an experience of self-discovery for the client. A successful lifestyle assessment will reveal the client's private logic (i.e., the reasons underlying the client's thoughts, emotions, and behaviors). Adlerian therapists sometimes use genograms to explore the structure and emotional atmosphere of the client's family of origin and to understand the client's early goals and sense of belonging. The client's perceived position in his or her family may provide an indication of how he or she relates to others. Early recollections of childhood events and the analysis of dreams can reveal the client's implicit life goals. Knowledge of the client's goal striving provides an overarching framework for understanding the finer details of the client's life.

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