Adlerian Psychotherapy

Ciara Alafriz Abella-Estayo

Adlerian Theory

History of Adlerian Theory

 Inspired by Freudian psychoanalysis.

 Founded by Alfred Adler, championed in

America by Rudolf Dreikurs.

 Dissemination throughout American

elementary schools during the guidance
movement by Don Dinkmeyer.
 Alfred Adler 1870-1937
• Grew up in a Vienna family of six boys and two girls
• His younger brother died at the very young age
• He nearly die because of pneumonia
• This experience, along with the death of
the younger brother, motivated Adler to
be a physician (Corey, 2011).
• He received his medical degree near the
end of 1895, he had realized his
childhood goal of becoming a physician
(G. Feist & J. Feist, 2008).
 Alfred Adler
• He fulfilled that obligation immediately after receiving his
medical degree and then returned to Vienna for postgraduate
study (G. Feist & J. Feist, 2008).
• After the World War II he was able to advance his theories
through lecturing, establishing child guidance clinics, and
training teachers (G. Feist &
J. Feist, 2008).
• Adler married a fiercely independent Russian woman, Raissa
Epstein, in December of 1897(G. Feist & J. Feist, 2008)

• On May 28, 1937, while taking a walk before a scheduled

lecture, Adler collapsed and died of heart failure.
 Human Nature
Adler focused on the person’s past as
perceived in the present and how an
individual’s interpretation of early events
continued to influence that person’s
present behavior (Corey, 2011).
Human motivated by social relatedness.
Behavior is purposeful and goal
oriented, conscious.
Adler stressed on choice and
responsibility, meaning in life and the
striving for success, completion and
perfection (Corey, 2011)
Alfred Adler’s Individual Psychology
 A phenomenological approach

 Social interest is stressed

 Birth order and sibling relationships emphasized

 Therapy as teaching, informing and encouraging

 Basic mistakes in the client’s private logic

 The therapeutic relationship — a collaborative

partnership
The Phenomenological Approach
 Adlerians attempt to view the world from the
client’s subjective frame of reference
 Reality is less important than how the individual
perceives and believes life to be
 It is not the childhood experiences that are
crucial
~ It is our present interpretation of these events
 Unconscious instincts and our past do not
determine our behavior
 It is not genes
 It is not environment
 It is not genes and environment
 It is how we choose to respond to our genes and
environment
Social Interest

 Adler’s most significant and distinctive concept

 Refers to an individual’s attitude toward and
awareness of being a part of the human community
 Mental health is measured by the degree to which we
successfully share with others and are concerned
with their welfare
 Happiness and success are largely related to social
connectedness
Impact of Birth Order
 Adler’s five psychological positions:

1. Oldest child ~ favored, spoiled, center of

attention, pseudo-parent, high achiever
2. Second of only two ~ behaves as if in a race,
often opposite to first child (rivalry)
3. Middle ~ often feels squeezed out
4. Youngest ~ the baby (more pampered),
creative, rebellious, revolutionary, avant-garde
5. Only ~ does not learn to share or cooperate
with other children, learns to deal with
adults
Encouragement
 Encouragement is the most powerful method
available for changing a person’s beliefs
 Helps build self-confidence and stimulates
courage
 Discouragement is the basic condition that prevents
people from functioning
 Clients are encouraged to recognize that they have the
power to choose and to act differently
 Other Adler Concepts

 Organ Inferiority: everyone is born with

some physical weakness-motivate life
choices
 Aggression Drive: reaction to perceived
helplessness or inferiority-lashing out
against the inability to achieve or master
 More Adler Concepts
 Masculine protest: Kids work to become independent from and
equal to adults & people in power

 Perfection striving: people who are not neurotically bound to an

inferiority complex spend their lives trying to meet their fictional
goals.
 Elimination of their perceived flaws
 Gives motivation and focus

 Social Responsibility & Understanding

 Occupational tasks-career-self-worth
 Societal task-creating friendships-networks
 Love tasks-life partner

 Positive & Goal Oriented Humanity- people striving to

overcome weaknesses to function productively-contributing to
society
 How an Adlerian does Therapy
 Comprehensive Assessment using:
 Family Constellation-questionnaire-social world
assessment
 Early Reflections-single incidents from
childhood
 Lifestyle Assessment-develop targets for therapy by
identifying major successes and mistakes in the
client’s life
 “The Question” -- If I had a magic wand that
would eliminate your symptom immediately, what
would be different in your life?”
What Clients do in Therapy
 Explore private logic-concepts about self,
others, & life – philosophy lifestyle is based
 Discover purposes purposes of behavior or
symptoms and basic mistakes associated
with their coping
 Learning how to correct faulty assumptions &
conclusions
Therapeutic Techniques & Procedures
 Establishing the Relationship
 Exploring the psychological dynamics
operating in the client-assessment
 Encouraging development of self-
understanding-insight into purpose
 Helping client make new choices-
reorientation & reeducation
 1. Establishing Relationship
 Therapist get to know the client as a person

 Therapy is collaborative
 Goals established together prior to start
 Awareness of goal discrepancies during
 Scripts (“Have you ever seen a patient like me before?”)

 Games (“My previous therapist said the opposite…”)

 Realignment of goals, when necessary

 Supportive, caring human connection

 Faith
 Hope
 Love
2. Exploring Individual’s Dynamics
 Subjective interview
 Client tells own story as expert on own life
 Therapist listens for clues to client’s coping and
approach to life
 The Question:

 Objective interview ~ Life Style

Assessment
 Family constellation
 Early Recollections
 Personality Priorities
 Integration and Summary
3. Encouraging Self-Understanding
& Insight
 Insight = understanding of motivations (the whys) that operate in
client’s life

 Therapist offers open-ended interpretations to:

 Bring conscious awareness to unconscious processes
 Identify and confront resistance
 Explore purposes of symptoms, feelings, behaviors or blocks

 Types of interpretation
 Of nonverbal behavior: to bring the client’s nonverbal behavior to the
attention of the client and interpret it.
 Of the therapeutic process: Dealing with what is in the here and now.
 Active Wondering: Proposes an alternative to the presenting
problem.
4. Helping with Reorientation
& Reeducation
 Encouragement process – “to build courage”
personal growth is encouraged and reinforced
 Change and search for new possibilities

 Making a difference-through change in

behavior, attitude or perception
 ENCOURAGEMENT
• The process of encouragement helps
build hope and the expectancy of
success in clients.

• Adlerians use encouragement

throughout the counseling process to
help, clients create new patterns of
behavior, develop more encouraging
perceptions, and access resources and
strengths
 THE ATTITUDES AND SKILLS OF
ADLERIAN ENCOURAGEMENT
• Valuing clients as they are;
• Demonstrating concern and care for clients through
active listening and communicating empathy and
respect;
• Focusing on clients strengths, assets, abilities, and
resources, including communicating confidence in
clients and identifying past successes;
• Helping clients generate perceptual alternatives for
discouraging fictional beliefs and oppressive
narrative, and behavioral alternatives to
problematic actions and interactions;
THE ATTITUDES AND SKILLS OF
ADLERIAN ENCOURAGEMENT
• Helping clients distinguish between what
they do (the problem) and who they are (the
person); the deed vs doer (problem is the
problem)
• Focusing on clients’ efforts and progress;
helping clients view successful movement or
progress incrementally rather than only in
terms of an end goal or final outcome;
• Communicating affirmation and appreciation
to clients; and Helping clients see the humor
in life experiences. (Watts & Pietrzak, 2000)
 “The Question”
“How would your life be different if you no
longer had this problem?” Other ways to ask it

• "How would your life be different if, all of a

sudden, you didn't have this problem
anymore?“
• “Suppose I gave you a pill….”
• “What if you had a magic wand…”
• “What if you woke up in the morning and no
longer had this problem?”
• “If you looked into a crystal ball…”
 HYPOTHESIS INTERPRETATION
• When using this technique, phrasing is
important. Should be phrased tentatively:
• “Could it be that…”
• “I have a guess that…”
• “Is it possible that…”
• Observing an "ah-ha" moment in the client's
expression (recognition reflex) or a quick
glance of disapproval in response to the
interpretation would be enough for the
professional counselor to continue or to move
in a different direction.
PUSH BUTTON TECHNIQUE

The technique helps the client to

become a very of their role in
maintaining or creating their own and
present feelings.

This technique takes place in the

following three phases:
• Phase one: in this phase clients are
asked to close their eyes and think of a
time in their lives when they felt happy,
loved, and successful. They are asked to
focus on all details the feeling evokes.
• Phase 2: in this phase clients are asked
to close their eyes and think of an
unpleasant memory in that Lives.
• Phase 3: in this phase clients are asked
to think of good memory as in phase 1.
 THE ACTING “AS IF”
• encourages clients to begin acting as
if they were already the person they
would like to be — for example, a
“confident individual.” The process
asks clients to pretend and
emphasizes that they are only acting.
SPITTING IN
THE SOUP TECHNIQUE
• The purpose of this technique is for
the counselor to point out
the client's irrational or maladaptive
behavior and make them aware of
why they are doing it. The counselor
has to understand the motives of the
behavior before it can be corrected.
 Advantages of Adlerian Theory

 It can be used for numerous issues and disorders.

 Uses encouragement.
 It is phenomenological.
 It does not consider people to be predisposed to
anything.
 Applicable to diverse populations and
presenting issues
 Disadvantages of Adlerian Theory

 Difficult to learn (e.g., making dream interpretations)

 Works best with highly verbal and intelligent clients.
This might leave out many people who do not fit that
category.
 Might be too lengthy for managed care.
 Adlerians do not like to make diagnoses
Adlerian Approaches today
 Education
 Parent Education
 Marriage Counseling
 Family Counseling
 Group Work