CHAPTER 5: ADLERIAN THERAPY

VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE - Individual Psychology assumes that all

- Adler's theory emphasized social relatedness, human behavior has a purpose.

purposeful and goal-directed behavior, and - Many Adlerians use the term fictional

the focus on consciousness in therapy. finalism to refer to an imagined life goal that

- Adler stressed choice, responsibility, guides a person's behavior.

meaning in life, and the striving for success, FAMILY CONSTELLATION AND BIRTH ORDER

completion, and perfection. - Family constellation is the composition of

- Adler's theory starts with inferiority feelings, family members, roles within the family, and

which he saw as a normal condition and a the reciprocal transaction between family

source of human striving. members

- Adlerian perspective emphasizes the Birth order

capacity to interpret, influence, and create - plays a role in development and personality

events, rejecting a deterministic stance. type

- Adlerians focus on reeducating individuals Oldest children characteristics

and reshaping society. - Intelligent, achieving, strong verbal skills,

- Adler was a forerunner of a subjective well-behaved, may feel dethroned when next

approach to psychology, focusing on internal sibling is born (jealousy, angry, fearful

determinants of behavior and pioneering a Second children characteristics

holistic, social, goal- oriented, systemic, and - Compete with older sibling, choose goals

humanistic approach. and activities that older sibling is unskilled

Individual Psychology at, receive less attention and have fewer

- from the Latin individuum, meaning rules, caring, friendly, and expressive

indivisible Middle children characteristics:

- Adler emphasized the unity and indivisibility - Many strengths of the second child, may feel

of the person and stressed under- standing like they're not special and can become

the whole person in the context of his or her discouraged; with positive parenting, they

life-how all dimensions of a person are can become friendly, creative, and ambitious

interconnected components, and how all of THERAPEUTIC GOALS

these components are unified by the 1. Most important goal is to increase people's

individual's movement toward a life goal. feelings of belonging and promote social

interest and community feeling

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➢ Can be done through promotion of 6. Helping people to become contributing

self-awareness and modifying members of society

lifestyles THERAPIST'S FUNCTION AND ROLE

2. Promoting awareness that people's pain is a - Help to identify major mistakes

result of faulty logic ➢ Lack of confidence, mistrust....

➢ Can be done through education and - Understanding, challenging, and changing

encouragement their life story and develop an alternative

3. Gain insight into and modify basic mistakes story

4. Reduce feelings of inferiority and gain ➢ "When individuals develop a life

self-confidence story that they find limiting and

- Educational development: general knowledge, problem-saturated, the goal is to

reading, writing free them from that story in favor of

- Physical development/biological and genetic a preferred and equally viable

factors: physical health and growth, innate alternative story" (Disque & Bitter,

intelligence, physical abilities, biochemical 1998, p. 434).

considerations - Gathering information through family

- Cognitive development: mental processes such constellation, early recollections, or lifestyle

as learning, memory, language, problem assessment, and dream assessment

solving, reasoning, attention, and decision ➢ Adler, on the other hand, viewed

making dreams as a rehearsal for possible

Mosak and Maniacci (2011) lists these goals for the future actions.

educational process of therapy: CLIENT'S EXPERIENCE IN THERAPY

1. Fostering social interest - Do not recognize the basic mistake or private

2. Helping clients overcome feelings of logic

discouragement and inferiority ➢ Views of self, others, and life based

3. Modifying clients' views and goals-that is, on a person's lifestyle

changing their lifestyle ➢ Help to discover the motivation of

4. Changing faulty motivation basic mistake

5. Encouraging the individual to recognize - Do not know what to do differently

equality among people - Fear of letting go the old patterns for

unpredictable new alternative options

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- Cling to old patterns even though it is (c) a medical history, including current and past

unsuccessful medications;

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THERAPIST AND (d) a social history;

CLIENT (e) the reasons the client chose therapy at this time;

- Cooperation, mutual trust, respect (f) the person's coping with life tasks; and

- Making a contract with clients (g) a lifestyle assessment

1. Detail what they (clients) want - The motivation behind coping strategies

2. How they plan Therapist is like a "lifestyle investigator"

3. What is preventing them from reaching - Family Constellation

goals - Early Recollections

4. How to change unproductive behavior into - Personality priorities

constructive behavior 3. Encouraging self-understanding and insight

5. How to make use of their strengths - Insight: an understanding of motivations

THERAPEUTIC TECHNIQUES AND that operate in a client's life

PROCEDURES - Maniacci (2011) define insight as

1. Establishing the relationship "understanding translated into constructive

- Collaborative relationship, deep caring and action" (p. 89)

involvement Identity personal issues - Disclosure and interpretations are

- Focus on person not the problem techniques that facilitate the process of

- Increase the awareness of strengths gaining insight.

- Focus on subjective experiences and core ➢ Interpretation deals with clients'

patterns underlying motives for behaving the

2. Exploring the individual's dynamics way they do in the here and now

- Client tells his or her story; clients as experts 4. Helping with reorientation

Subjective Interview - Encouragement

- “How would your life be different, and what ➢ Encouragement entails showing

would you be doing differently, if you did not faith in people, expecting them to

have this symptom or problem?" assume responsibility for their lives,

Objective interview and valuing them for who they are

(a) how problems in the client's life began; - No intervention is more important than

(b) any precipitating events; encouragement

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- Help clients identify self-defeating patterns - What position do others take in relation to

- Make use of assets, strengths, and resources the person?

- Search for new possibilities - What are the dominant themes and overall

- Making a difference patterns of the memories?

- Action-oriented phase; emphasis is on - What feelings are expressed in the

putting insights into practice memories?

- Clients are reoriented toward the useful side - Why does the person choose to remember

of life this event? What is the person trying to

- Clients are encouraged to act as if they were convey?

the people they want to be Adlerian therapists use early recollections as a projective

FAMILY CONSTELLATION technique (Clark, 2002; Hood & Johnson, 2007) and to

- Who is the favorite child? a) assess the client's convictions about self,

- What was your father's relationship with others, life, and ethics;

their children? Your mother's? b) assess the client's stance in relation to the

- Which child was most like your father? Your counseling session and the counseling

mother? In what respects? relationship;

- Who among the siblings was most different c) verify the client's coping patterns; and

from you? In What ways? d) assess individual strengths, assets, and

- Who among the siblings was most like you? interfering ideas (Bitter et al., 1998, p. 99).

In what ways? PERSONALITY PRIORITIES

- What were you like as a child? - Superiority (or significance)

- How did your parents get along? In what did - Control

they both agree? How did they handle - Comfort

disagreements? How did they discipline the - Pleasing

children? INTEGRATION AND SUMMARY

EARLY RECOLLECTIONS Five basic mistake

Three earliest memory 1. Overgeneralizations

- What part does the person take in the 2. Impossible goals

memory? 3. Misperceptions of life and life's demands

- Is the person an observer or a participant 4. Minimization or denial of one's basic worth

- Who else is in the memory? 5. Faulty values

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ADLERIAN TECHNIQUES - Respect for individual differences

- Immediacy Limitations

- Advice - Lack of empirical support

- Humor - Many concepts are too simple and not well

- Silence defined

- Paradoxical intention - Does not account for biological or genetic

- Acting as if influences on pathology

- Catching oneself

- Push-button technique

- Externalization

- Reauthoring

- Avoiding the traps

- Confrontation

- Use of stories and fables

- Early recollection analysis

- Lifestyle assessment

- Encouraging

- Task setting and commitment

- Homework

- Terminating and summarizing

EVALUATION

Strengths

- Adler influenced many of the counseling

theories we use today

- Many counseling approaches reflect his key

concepts

- Easily and effectively integrated with other

approaches

- Social equality of women, respect for cultural

and religious diversity, and addressing

discrimination