Adlerian Therapy

Founder

Alfred Adler

Assumption

• Humans are holistic beings influenced more by social than biological forces.

• People are motivated by social interest and a striving for significance and belonging.

• Individuals create a unique lifestyle early in life, which guides their behavior and perceptions.

• Psychological problems stem from feelings of inferiority and discouragement, often due to mistaken beliefs or faulty life goals.

• People are not sick or diseased but often discouraged and need encouragement and re-education.

• Change is possible through insight, encouragement, and adopting socially useful goals.

• Social connectedness and community feeling are central to mental health.

Basic concepts

• Style of Life: The unique way each person strives to achieve belonging and significance.

• Social Interest: The innate potential to live cooperatively and contribute to the community; a key indicator of mental health.

• Inferiority Feelings: Normal feelings that can motivate growth or lead to discouragement and maladjustment if unresolved.

• Fictional Finalism: Imagined life goals or ideals that guide behavior, often formed early in life.

• Encouragement: The primary therapeutic strategy to build courage and overcome discouragement.

• Early Recollections: Used as projective tools to understand a person's lifestyle and core beliefs.

• Birth Order: Influences personality and style of life.

Goals of Therapy

• Help patients develop a sense of belonging and social interest.

• Raise self-awareness and adjust mistaken beliefs and life goals.

• Replace growth-inhibiting narratives with growth-enhancing ones.

• Build courage to face life’s challenges despite fear.

• Promote community feeling and socially useful behavior.

• Encourage patients to use their talents to help others.

• Eliminate discouragement and foster optimism and self-confidence.

Role of Therapist

• Establish an egalitarian, respectful, and encouraging therapeutic alliance.

• Act as a collaborator and educator rather than an authoritarian expert.

• Use empathy, encouragement, and confrontation to challenge mistaken beliefs and self-defeating patterns.

• Facilitate insight into lifestyle and social interest.

• Motivate patients to adopt new perspectives and behaviors.

• Assign homework and tasks to practice new skills and social engagement.

• Maintain a supportive atmosphere while confronting inconsistencies in the patient’s life.

Assessment

• Explore patient’s lifestyle, early memories, family constellation, and personal beliefs.

• Use psychological inquiry, interviews, and psychological inventories as needed.

• Focus on uncovering basic mistakes or faulty beliefs formed in childhood.

• Assess social interest and community feeling.

• Identify the patient’s fictional goals and mistaken life plans.

• Early recollections are analyzed to reveal core assumptions and motivations.

Intervention(s)

• Encouragement to build courage and reduce feelings of inferiority.

• Style of life analysis to understand unique life patterns.

• Questioning and hypothesis interpretation to explore multiple reasons for behavior.

• Acting “as if” to experiment with new behaviors.

• Catching oneself to increase self-awareness of maladaptive patterns.

• Pushbutton technique to help patients control emotional responses.

• Task setting and homework assignments to practice new behaviors and social interest (e.g., volunteering).

• Brainstorming alternative beliefs and goals.

• Use of humor and small talk to build rapport and reduce resistance.

Change

• Achieved through insight into one’s lifestyle and mistaken beliefs.

• Encouragement fosters courage to try new behaviors despite fear.

• Patients replace discouraging narratives with growth-enhancing ones.

• Development of social interest leads to healthier relationships and community engagement.

• Change is collaborative, with the patient actively choosing to adopt new perspectives and behaviors.

• Therapy aims for lasting personality and behavioral change, not just symptom relief.

Termination

• Occurs after the patient has developed insight, courage, and social interest to face life’s challenges.

• Consolidation of gains and preparation for independent application of new skills.

• Therapist helps patient maintain motivation and social connectedness beyond therapy.

Evaluation

• Success is measured by increased social interest, courage, and adaptive lifestyle changes.

• Reduction of discouragement and feelings of inferiority.

• Patient’s ability to engage in socially useful activities and relationships.

• The quality of the therapeutic alliance and the patient’s self-reported growth and insight.