Analyzing Theories for Psychology/Counseling

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Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Chapter Five

Adlerian Theory

Roxane Dufrene

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Introduction

  • Alfred Adler founded Individual Psychology, a social theory widely applied by counselors and educators.

  • His theory provides a framework for understanding the individual within his or her environment thus providing guidance for improving both the individual’s psychological state and connectedness to the social environment.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Introduction

  • Individual Psychology is based on three major constructs:

  • Human behavior is goal oriented.

2. Humans have a drive that is served by abilities directed toward living cooperatively and contributing to the social environment.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Introduction

3. The general evaluative attitude that affects choices occurs within the whole individual (holistic), not a sublevel of the individual.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Background

  • Adler was an Austrian physician and psychiatrist born in the suburbs of Vienna on February 7, 1870.

  • He was the second son of six children of a Jewish grain merchant.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Background

  • After receiving his medical degree from the University of Vienna in 1895, Adler practiced ophthalmology for a short period before switching to general medicine then psychiatry.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Background

  • In 1898, at 28 years old, he wrote one of his first works on the medical conditions of tailors.

  • In this work, he described the health and lifestyle of tailors within their unique environment, describing what was to become one of the main ideas in Adler’s theory: a view of the individual as part of an integrated whole within the environment.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Background

  • Adler published several works that featured a form of social theory that ran counter to Freud’s deterministic theory.

  • Eventually Adler’s direction towards a more social theory of development caused a rift with Freud.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Background

  • In 1912, Adler published The Neurotic Constitution, in which he discussed many of the main constructs of his theory.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Background

  • The Vienna College of Professors rejected this work as being more similar to philosophy than medicine.

  • Eventually, Adler turned to bringing Individual Psychology to the public through an educational model, not a medical model.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Background

  • Alder traveled and lectured for nearly 25 years presenting his ideas on social oriented psychology to large groups of researchers, practitioners, and lay people.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Background

  • He sought to overcome the superiority dynamic of a therapist, moving the theater of analysis from the couch to two chairs, promoting the idea of equality between the patient and counselor.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Background

  • Adler's work was interrupted by World War I; during this time he was a physician in the war and noted the destructive power of war on Vienna and its society. His views began to incorporate the concept of social interest as an approach to larger societal problems.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Background

  • In 1918 and 1919, during postwar time, he founded several child guidance clinics in Vienna and educational clinics in Austria for teachers, parents, and students.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Background

  • It was from this work that Adler pioneered another innovative form of therapy, the group therapy process.

  • He began to integrate the concept of social interest into larger systems, such as education (specifically adult education), school reform, teacher training, and child guidance.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Background

  • After Adler’s death, his theory of Individual Psychology continued to flourish and evolve through the further work of Rudolf Dreikurs in the U.S. and many other enthusiasts worldwide.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Human Nature

  • Adler considered the developmental process as the formation of an individual’s lifestyle.

  • A lifestyle is unique and composed of a person’s relationships with the self, others, and the universe.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Human Nature

  • From the moment of birth, a child begins to construct a lifestyle out of experiences that occur in the environment.

  • As a child develops a particular style of fitting in, perceptions become increasingly selective, and actions and reactions become habitual. Values are learned from family and become set within a lifestyle.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Human Nature

  • A child reacts based on subjective perspectives and those subjective interpretations may or may not match the actual facts of the environment.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Human Nature

  • Many beliefs and perceptions are based on mistaken interpretations of the environment. Thus, an Alderian counselor views lifestyle formation as an attempt to reach agreement with thoughts, feelings, and actions in the social environment.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Human Nature

  • Adler introduced three concepts as guides to interpret the patterns of behavior an individual uses to give action to his or her lifestyle: birth order, family constellation, and early recollections.

  • These concepts assist counselors in understanding the factors at work that impact an individual’s development.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Human Nature

Birth Order

  • Adler believed that birth order within the family is an important factor in the developmental process as it provides a template around which thoughts and behaviors can be understood.

  • He constructed a framework of birth order characteristics based on a natural hierarchy created within a family.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Human Nature

Birth Order

  • The interactions of all the members in the family and subsequent patterns of communication create a climate of relationships which Adler termed the family atmosphere.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Human Nature

Birth Order

  • Family atmosphere is unique to each family system.

  • The relationship between the parents and a child, or the parents and their children, is often the clearest signal of what factors constitute the family system.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Human Nature

Family Constellation

  • Adler used the term family constellation as a structure to describe each member’s niche within the family system.

  • Adler emphasized that birth order in this constellation influences a person’s lifestyle choices.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Human Nature

Family Constellation

  • Within the constellation, a child defines self in relation to other children and how the self is different or the same as others in the family.

  • Birth order for children, the gender of siblings, or age differences between siblings are all variables of the family constellation.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Human Nature

Birth Order

  • Adler described five basic birth order positions; the only child, the oldest child, the second of only two children, the middle child, and the youngest child.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Human Nature

Birth Order: Only Child

  • Adler believed that since only children never have to share attention or feel replaced by another sibling, they may not learn how to cooperate with other children.

  • Only children are more inclined to be high achievers and conscientious. They are very interested in perpetuating family values.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Human Nature

Birth Order: Oldest Child

  • Both the only and the oldest child have all of their parents’ attention.

  • Adler believed that the child would be loved and nurtured in a certain pattern of behavior by the parents until the second child arrived.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Human Nature

Birth Order: Oldest Child

  • Adler found that the oldest may be more likely to become a problem child due to the change in the family constellation.

  • Like the only child, the oldest child may tend to be perfectionistic, hard working, conscientious, and want to do things at which he or she already knows he or she can succeed.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Human Nature

Birth Order: Second Born Child

  • While the first child has a period of time when the parent’s attention is not shared with another child, the second will always have to share the attention. 

  • Adler believed that the second child may react in a competitive way seeing the first child as a pace-setter.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Human Nature

Birth Order: Second Born Child

  • At times the second child is successful in the competition, but many second children act as if the competition is never done.

  • This constant competition impacts each child’s lifestyle.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Human Nature

Birth Order: Middle Child

  • When a third child arrives in the family, a second child becomes the middle child.

  • A middle child learns that he or she is caught between an oldest child who appears to be the focus and the youngest child who seems to be able to get attention for doing nothing.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Human Nature

Birth Order: Middle Child

  • To a middle child, life appears unfair, and he or she believes that the oldest and youngest align together and against him or her.

  • The middle child becomes sensitive to criticism and is easily angered.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Human Nature

Birth Order: Youngest Child

  • The youngest child is usually the most pampered and overindulged in a family. The placement in the family as “the baby” will never change.

  • The youngest is the second most likely to be a problem, following the first child.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Human Nature

Birth Order: Youngest Child

  • Because there can be limited expectations of the youngest, he or she may go off on his or her own, which leads to egocentric behaviors.

  • Typically, the youngest tends to be helpless and depends on the family, especially wanting parents to do things for him or her.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Human Nature

Early Recollections

  • Adler proposed that early recollections or remembrances are important indicators to understanding an individual.

  • Memories were a key phenomena to Adler, considering the time and effort an individual uses to store and recollect memories.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Human Nature

Early Recollections

  • Recollections in and of themselves from childhood are not as important as to which memories are retrieved and how a person’s perception is reflected in the choice of recollections.

  • The subjective interpretation of those memories can be used to indicate how an individual views self and others in relation to life.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Human Nature

Early Recollections

  • Early recollections are found to have a bearing on the central interests of a person's life.

  • They provide hints and clues which are valuable when attempting to find direction in a person's striving. They are helpful in revealing what a person values and what is dangerous in life.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

 

  • The individual strives to belong.

  • The self consists of social aspects that begin with feelings of inferiority that are compensated for and fueled by a “creative power to interpret experiences, both internal and external, influenced by both heredity and environment, in an individualist, subjective manner.”

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

 

  • Adler stressed that a person is understood as a complete and integrated individual with the creative power to interpret experiences and manifest a lifestyle.

  • Adler emphasized positive growth believing that where a person is going is more important than where they have come from.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

 

  • Adler stressed the importance of choice and responsibility in life as well as how an individual tends to strive for success and perfection.

  • From birth onward, an individual is socially embedded; this social embeddedness reinforces the responsibilities of society.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

 

  • Adler said this social influence is so strong that almost nothing is more important than a person’s social world.

  • Within the social world, a person operates from private logic.

  • Private logic is the evaluation of self and others and how a person cooperates with others.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

 

  • Problems are created socially and occur as a result of the conflicts that arise as an individual performs the three life tasks of work, community, and love.

  • Each individual has a unique private logic; however, a person must function in the common sense.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

 

  • Inferiority feelings are normal and can be used as the source of striving to overcome the feelings of inferiority.

  • Adler felt that inferiority feelings, or minus situations, are normal reactions when a person is aware that he or she is not able to function in a way that he or she wishes.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

 

  • These experiences then motivate an individual to strive toward a plus situation, or mastery, superiority, and completion.

  • Adler proposed the direction of motivation is towards the future rather than trying to escape the conditions in the past. Working towards goals and purpose in life creates the momentum for continual striving.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

 

  • An individual is proactive and can choose and act in a way that will lead to a goal.

  • He or she views the world uniquely from a subjective frame of reference. 

  • Subjective reality is then defined as a person’s feelings, beliefs, values, and understandings of the world. 

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

 

  • An individual’s interpretation of the world, what is in it, and how experiences are viewed are important in determining how he or she meets social problems.

  • A person that is connected to others and equipped to meet the three life tasks of work, community, and love will have a healthy view of life and will cooperate and contribute to social interest. 

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

 

  • Adler did not view individuals as specific types because of his belief in the unique, creative power of the individual.

  • However, for instructive purposes, he suggested four basic types: (1) dominant or ruling, (2) getting or dependent, (3) avoidant, and (4) socially useful.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

 

  • The first three types describe people who are at least partly unprepared to meet life's demands.

  • At various levels these types do not cooperate with others, do not contribute to society, and are in some way maladjusted.

  • Individuals of these types may experience addictions, neurosis, psychosis, or other issues.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

 

  • The fourth type, socially useful, is willing to cooperate, contribute, and be active in contributing to others and the social world.

  • Socially useful people are similar to what other counseling professionals would see as self-actualized.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

 Adler’s Human Personality Theory

  • Adler developed and refined the premises of his theory over three distinct phases during his life:

  • Explanation of inferiority feeling
  • Understanding of inferiority
  • Social interest

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

 Adler’s Human Personality Theory

  • During the first phase from 1907 to 1912, Adler’s work focused on organ inferiority as he developed basic concepts upon which he began to build his theory.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

 Adler’s Human Personality Theory

  • Applying this idea to a psychological viewpoint, he believed that a person can compensate for inferiorities by developing certain skills or personality traits.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

 Adler’s Human Personality Theory

  • A person may compensate and overcompensate for inferiority; these feelings are the source of an individual’s striving.

  • An individual thinks, feels, and acts in relation to goals and is working towards meeting certain life tasks.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

 Adler’s Human Personality Theory

  • During the second phase from about 1912 to 1916, Adler developed a framework for understanding inferiority feelings and how to interpret those feelings as generators of striving towards the future.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

 Adler’s Human Personality Theory

  • Fictional Goals: Fictions are what directs a person in the present to overcome feelings of inferiority and motivates them toward the future. An example of a person’s fiction might be that life is fair. This idea contradicts reality because everything in life is not fair, bad things happen; yet this fiction has value in everyday life for a person.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

 Adler’s Human Personality Theory

  • Adler believed persons develop fictions as a protection to handle the social world around them.

  • Reactions are not passive but are active interpretations of life and, as such, part of the subjective reality.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

 Adler’s Human Personality Theory

  • The third phase began in 1916 and lasted until Adler’s death in 1937. This phase was when Adler introduced the term Gemeinschaftsgefühl (in German), called social interest, social feeling, or community feeling.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

 Adler’s Human Personality Theory

  • According to Adler, a person strives to overcome inferiority feelings through social interest.

  • Adler's theory was a humanistic view of life which included seeing a person as capable of cooperative social living.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

 Adler’s Human Personality Theory

  • A person strives for self-improvement, self-completion, and contribution to others and society.

  • Thus, a person is inextricably interconnected with others and the universe.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

 Adler’s Human Personality Theory

  • Adler believed that social interest is the essential gauge of mental health which involves a striving toward a healthy and socially active participation of life.

  • As social interest builds, feelings of inferiority lessen.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

Social Interest

  • A person is a social decision-maker who acts in a manner consistent with the subjective meaning of his or her lifestyle.

  • In a person’s lifestyle, the goal is to belong to a social group or community.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

Social Interest

  • Gemeinshaftsgefühl (social interest) describes the innate drive of a person to cooperate and contribute with others for the common good.

  • Social interest includes factors such as helping, participating, respect, cooperation, empathy, contributing, and encouragement.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

Social Interest

  • Adler’s social interest can be described “in terms of three different aspects: of its being an aptitude or innate potentiality; of its being a set of abilities; and of its being a generalized attitude.”

  • First, the individual’s innate aptitude influences the direction of striving toward social interest.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

Social Interest

  • Next, this innate aptitude must be developed into abilities -- especially cooperating and contributing to others and the larger universe.

  • Third, parents, guardians, and teachers should educate and cultivate social interest in children from an early age by giving tasks that help them to learn how to cooperate and contribute to the family or society.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

Social Interest

  • Adler believed that if social interest is supported and developed, at the cognitive level a person will acknowledge the necessary interdependence with others and recognize that the welfare of all is important .

  • At the affective level, a person will be empathic and have a deep belonging to others.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

Social Interest

  • At the behavioral level, thoughts and feelings will be acted on resulting in striving towards self-development as well as cooperating and contributing to others.

  • Thus, a feeling of community will encompass a person’s full development resulting in experiences that are fulfilling and contributing to society.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

Social Interest

  • Social interest is fundamental to the teachings of Adler, who taught that a sense of community is key to good mental health for a person.

  • With a healthy foundation provided by family and society, a child is able to handle the three life tasks of work, community, and love in a positive way.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

Emotions and Feelings

  • Adler believed that goal orientation includes lifestyle goals as well as immediate goals. Emotions stir the drive to reach a goal.

  • Adler viewed emotions in two types: conjunctive and disjunctive.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

Emotions and Feelings

  • Conjunctive emotions allow a person to stay connected by reacting with love, empathy, or joy.

  • Disjunctive emotions create problems through reactions of anger, hate, or fear.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Major Constructs

Emotions and Feelings

  • Unity of lifestyle allows a person to choose emotions and achieve an immediate goal or lifestyle purpose.

  • Goals are influenced by hereditary and social factors as well as emotions which evolve from the creative power and subjective perspectives of an individual.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

Overview

  • Adler proposed three phases of counseling:

  • Understanding the client.

  • Explaining the client’s behavior to him or her in a way that makes sense.

  • Strengthening social interest.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

Overview

  • The process of Adlerian counseling varies widely.

  • The rationale for variability is based on Adler’s basic assumption that each client is unique.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

Overview

  • Because he believed each client was unique Adler did not propose specific interventions.

  • Counselor creativity is imperative in his approach and the array of intervention strategies is its hallmark.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

Overview

  • His approach is characterized as intuitive and diverse, requiring experiential learning rather than explicit descriptions of the process.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

Goals

  • The overall goal of Adlerian counseling is encouraging a client’s social interest.

  • An Adlerian counselor assists a client by distinguishing between life goals that account for the development of a unique lifestyle and more immediate goals that account for everyday behaviors.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

Goals

  • The central aim of Adlerian counseling is to help a client identify and understand mistaken beliefs and assumptions about self, others, and life; make changes in those beliefs; and thus participate more fully in a social world.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

Goals

  • The beginning process of goal setting is assisting a client in developing behaviors and beliefs characterized by actions that contribute to social interest.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

Goals

  • A counselor works at educating a client toward the useful side of life and developing a sense of belonging to the world in terms of a client’s perceptions of self and others and the basic beliefs that support his or her lifestyle.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

The Process of Change

  • Early in the counseling process, the counselor develops a relationship through empathy and encouragement. 

  • Encouragement is the most powerful intervention a counselor can provide for helping a client to transform beliefs, inspire courage, and grow.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

The Process of Change

  • A client grows by gaining insight and using that insight to take steps that result in healthy relationships with family, friends, and others.

  • Growth is not possible unless the client is willing to change his or her mistaken beliefs.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

The Process of Change

  • Adlerian counseling rests in the counselor-client collaborative relationship of mutual respect to identify, explore, and evaluate mistaken goals and faulty assumptions within the client’s lifestyle.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

The Process of Change

  • Adler sees confrontation as an important part of encouragement and part of the process of change.

  • Confrontation is frequently used as a way of holding the mistaken goals and beliefs up in front of the client, as with a mirror.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

The Process of Change

  • Confrontation is followed by a reorientation of the client toward what will work in life and the world.

  • Rather than a counselor focusing on major problems and mistakes, the focus of counseling should be on a client’s strengths while still addressing the mistaken beliefs and behaviors.  

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

Traditional Intervention Strategies

Lifestyle Analysis

  • A key function of the counselor is to make a vigorous, comprehensive analysis or investigation of the client’s lifestyle. 

 

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

Traditional Intervention Strategies

Lifestyle Analysis

 

  • Information about the client’s family constellation, life goals, beliefs, attitudes, birth order, parental relationships, family values, early recollections, and culture are collected and evaluated.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

Traditional Intervention Strategies

Lifestyle Analysis

The following components are used in a lifestyle analysis:

Family Constellation The family constellation represents the client’s understanding of the family and his or her ordinal place in the family
Family Atmosphere The family atmosphere is the coming together of everyone in the family and subsequent patterns of communication within the family.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

Traditional Intervention Strategies

Lifestyle Analysis

Family Values The values chosen by a client depend on the unique family atmosphere.
Gender Roles Role models affect how a child experiences the world through gender and how communication and interactions with others occur based on gender.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

Traditional Intervention Strategies

Lifestyle Analysis

Roles in a Family Family dynamics, including parenting styles and position in the family, create roles in a family.
Early Developmental Experiences Early memories embody a client’s core beliefs and feelings about self and the world. They contain recollections of the person's inferiority feelings, life goals, and lifestyle.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

Traditional Intervention Strategies

Lifestyle Analysis

Encouragement Encouragement helps to build rapport and maximizes the counselor-client relationship. It is used to assist a client in overcoming inferiority feelings.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

Brief Intervention Strategies

  • Specific techniques used at any one time depend on the counseling direction that is beneficial for a client at the time. Therefore, Adlerian techniques can be flexible.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

Brief Intervention Strategies

  • As suggested by Watts and Pietrzak (2000), counseling can be based in solution-focused strategies because a client is encouraged by an Adlerian counselor to shift from a problem and failure focus to a focus of strengths, resources, and potentials.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

Brief Intervention Strategies

  • The Socratic method of leading a client to insight through a series of questions is at the heart of Adlerian counseling.

  • It embodies the relationship of equals searching for knowledge and insight in an encouraging and respectful style consistent with Adler's theory.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

Brief Intervention Strategies

  • Penetrating, leading questions uncover the deeper understanding of a client’s private logic, feelings, and goals.

  • Throughout the use of this method, new ideas are generated, examined, and evaluated to help the client take steps in a different direction.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

Brief Intervention Strategies

  • Clients can also be assisted with brief techniques by using missed developmental experiences, guided and eidetic imagery, Adlerian play therapy, and by using a six-step model which uses role-pay, artistic drawings, and cognitive restructuring.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

Clients With Serious Mental Health Issues

  • Adler preferred the term discouraged as opposed to referring to an individual as pathological, mentally sick, or using a label of sickness.

  • He believed that psychological disturbances or neurosis occur because of an exaggerated inferiority feeling or an insufficiently developed feeling of community.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

Clients With Serious Mental Health Issues

  • When an individual is discouraged, he or she first resorts to fictional means to relieve or mask--rather than overcome--inferiority feelings, attempting to bolster feelings of self.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

Clients With Serious Mental Health Issues

  • Eventually, private views clash with reality and create difficulties in work, friendships, or love relationships which may lead to the development of psychological disturbances and symptoms.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

Clients With Serious Mental Health Issues

  • From an Adlerian viewpoint, there are three factors that distinguish mild psychological disorders from severe disorders:

  • Depth of inferiority feelings
  • Lack of feeling of community
  • Height of final goal

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

Clients With Serious Mental Health Issues

  • The role of the counselor is not to treat mental diseases but to discover the fictions in a lifestyle and, thus, lead a client to greater growth and social interest.

  • Therefore, Adlerian counselors assume a nonpathological perspective.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

Clients With Serious Mental Health Issues

  • Seligman (2004) stated that “Individual Psychology seems most appropriate for people who are experiencing long-standing emotional difficulties and who are having difficulty developing self-confidence, mobilizing themselves, and finding a rewarding direction”

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

Cross-Cultural Considerations

  • Adler saw an individual’s culture as derived from a person’s subjective view of life.

  • Culture, then, is the individual’s interpretation of his or her social setting and is a very strong indicator of how a person views self, lifestyle, and interactions within a community.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

Cross-Cultural Considerations

  • The emphasis on a person's subjective view of his or her world supports respect for an individual’s values and cultural perceptions. Adler believed in equality, civil rights, mutual respect, advancement of social values, and the importance of nurturing feelings of belonging in everyone.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

Evaluation

Supporting Research

  • The practical evidence of Adler’s theory is based on his case studies.

  • However, empirical research of Adlerian theory began to evolve in the 1970s.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

Evaluation

Supporting Research

  • Several assessment instruments have been developed to measure various Adlerian constructs, including Crandall’s Social Interest Scale, Eckstein’s Lifestyle Self-Assessment, and Rule’s Early Recollections Questionnaire.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

Evaluation

Limitations

  • Some researchers and practitioners frequently criticize Adler’s theory for its lack of depth.

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

Evaluation

Limitations

  • Some of the more general limitations to Adler’s theory include being overwhelmed by the number of concepts, believing the concepts are difficult to define, lacking real meanings in the concepts, and focusing solely on the individual as the change agent. 

Melinda Haley, Ph. D. Counseling and Psychotherapy: Theories and Interventions

Adlerian Theory

Applications

Evaluation

Limitations

  • One of the most often cited limitations to Adler’s theory is the lack of empirical evidence and comparative analysis. With managed care providers requiring counselors to use techniques that are measureable, Adler’s theory has limited concepts that have a history of being measured.