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Theory and Design in Counseling and Psychotherapy
Susan X Day , Iowa State University and University of Houston
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CHAPTER 5: Adlerian Psychology
Key Terms and Essential Concepts
Phenomenological: Adler wrote that reality was based on subjective
interpretations of life experiences. Each individual maintains a personal worldview
by approaching new experiences through a biased lens, ignoring contradictions
and emphasizing what reinforces original concepts. Reality is seen through the
eyes of the beholder. Since individuals process information with unique perceptions,
objective analyses are difficult
Existential: Each person is responsible for creating the meaning
of his existence. For Adler, people determine life’s purpose through their interpretations
of their experience. At any point in life, interpretations of previous experience
can be changed and new concepts can be chosen to direct life in the future.
Holistic: Adler viewed personality as a holistic unit. Feelings,
thinking, and behavior coalesce into a unified whole, an integrated personality
with a distinctive perspective. Human beings function as a unified whole where
all the elements of the personality are interrelated. Behavior is goal driven,
designed to meet personal and social ends and to maintain the integrity of individual
identity.
Style of life: Adler sought to understand the unifying motivations
for individual personalities
by discerning what underlying goals the person may be seeking. Analyzing the
sibling
array, family interactions, and early recollections from an individual’s childhood
exposes the most simplistic motives at the core of personality. From such early
experiences a basic life script is set and is then reenacted throughout adulthood.
Psychological symptoms
stem from general mistaken ideas about life or from faulty cognitive sets within
the characteristic structure. The style of life may be ineffective attempts
to overcome difficulties. To transform a person’s life, the basic script requires
change. The script is further developed in adulthood through efforts to meet
major life tasks: creating a loving, intimate relationship; making contributions
through work; participating in the larger community; and for some Adlerian authors,
establishing a relationship with self; and developing meaning through spirituality.
Social interest: When clients experience painful symptoms,
it is because their attitudes and behavior are not appropriative for a cooperative
social order. Skewed thinking often includes separating self from others, as
when someone blames another, or tries to look better than others, or tries to
protect the self from rejection. Positive mental health requires belonging
through social connections and making useful contributions to the common good.
As social beings, a selfish orientation negates the basic human need to be a
part of the community. Self-absorption is useless because it blocks both individual
growth and societal progress. Psychologically, self-interest is served when
everyone cooperates for the betterment of all.
Family constellation: The group formed by the parents and other
influential adults as well as the children. The sibling array is organized in
a hierarchy with the oldest first, middle children next in descending age order,
and finally the youngest.
Sense of inferiority: As children grow in awareness of the
family constellation it is obvious to them that adults and older siblings function
better and know more. Feeling inferior at the beginning of life is therefore
a common experience and coping with a sense of inferiority is one of life’s
major psychological tasks.
Strivings for superiority: Adler defined mechanisms to overcome
feelings of inferiority as striving, or an individual’s movement, that
could be positive or negative. Ideally, with effective parental training, overcoming
inferiority motivates the child to strive for socially appropriate behavior
and task mastery. However, many circumstances conspire for children to develop
mistaken ideas and coping mechanisms to protect themselves from feeling inferior
or from others recognizing their inadequacy.
Fictional self: Each person constructs a self-concept stemming
from personal observations and interpretations of others’ reactions. Individuals
may cast themselves in consistent roles, such as victims, leaders or heroes,
to play out the goals of their lifestyle. Of course, consistent casting for
one’s self requires casting others in counter roles, such as villains, followers,
or damsels in distress.
Life script: Adler also described the self in the center of
a fantasy drama where the person strives to overcome obstacles and deal with
life events.
Fictional finalism: Since the cognitive constructs developed
in childhood reflect a person’s inner experience, not actual reality, people
construe life events to fit the fictional script that inevitably proceeds toward
a predetermined final conclusion.
Constructivist: A modern term reflecting the Adlerian concept
that each person "
constructs"
her own life. A person’s life story includes the
interpretations of experiences that are used to develop a personal style of
life.
Private logic: Adler discerned that unique individuals employ
distinctive explanations for their experiences, and they come to idiosyncratic
conclusions when interpreting life events. Private logic rationalizes individualistic
worldviews and lifestyles. When considered from the individual’s perspective,
the train of thought makes sense in its own way, though others may not agree
that the personal logic is reasonable. Adler believed that the common sense
of the community is useful, and private logic is useless when it serves only
the individual’s purposes.
Discouragement: When individuals proceed from mistaken ideas,
new experiences will bring natural consequences as negative feedback. If the
person cannot adjust his thinking and behavior, consistent negative consequences
will be disheartening, though the person may not understand his own responsibility
for the chain of events.
Encouragement: To break a continuing pattern of negative consequences
from reoccurring, the individual must gain the courage to change his thinking
and behavior. Support from others offers hope and instills a belief that new
cognitive sets and actions will result in positive experiences. Adler believed
negative self concepts and psychological symptoms develop when a person is discouraged,
feeling stuck in a life without hope for any change. Counseling reverses discouragement
through interventions that instill hope, create better life visions and provide
corrective experiences. Encouragement contains the word courage,
and reflects Adler’s characterization of the effort and support needed to make
basic psychological changes.
Growth model: Theories based on assumptions that human beings
develop over time, and that individuals can direct the change in their own lives.
In contrast, deterministic models, such as a psychoanalytic approach, presume
patterns are set at certain ages and change is not under conscious control.
Also in contrast, a medical model presumes that psychological difficulties
follow a pathological pattern similar to physical disease. Growth models do
not presuppose illness, but rather learning deficits, mistaken ideas, or others
factors that can be controlled by the individual. Therapies for growth models
also approach difficulties holistically rather than treating symptoms as medical
practices often do.
Basic mistakes: Few people gain adult identity without convictions
based on mistaken impressions developed from the limited perceptions of childhood.
Such mistaken ideas are bound to create negative consequences and psychological
strains. From a vantage point of broader awareness and greater discernment,
an adult can change basic mistakes in thinking.
Early recollections: Scenes remembered from childhood are constructed
to reinforce themes inherent in the style of life. When such memories are analyzed
they reveal how the person approaches life, with resolute leanings on polarities
such as directing life vs. passivity, optimism vs. pessimism, or expressiveness
vs. silence.
"As if": To facilitate change, a person can pretend she already
thinks and acts differently. Rather than focus on the strain and effort of breaking
old habits, playing a new role establishes new behaviors and helps the person
realize new possibilities are possible.
The question: Adler described a technique designed to quickly
focus the client’s attention on a better future beyond presenting concerns.
The therapist asks the client, "
If I could magically eliminate your symptom
immediately and completely, what would be different in your life?"
The client
describes a vision that doesn’t contain the difficulties blocking the client’s
growth. A version of the question is used in solution focused brief counseling.
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