Born in Vienna in 1870

Born in Vienna in 1870

• Born in Vienna in 1870

• Rickets prevented him from walking until age 4

• Sickly as a child

• Was his mother’s favorite until age 2 when dethroned by another baby

• Could not compete with older brother (who happened to be named Sigmund)

Poor student when younger

• Poor student when younger

• Several experiences w/ death

• Pnemonia
• Hit twice by cars
• Younger brother

• Cemetery story

Overcame earlier problems to become a good student and athlete

• Overcame earlier problems to become a good student and athlete

• Received medical degree in 1895 from University of Vienne

• Became physician to fight death
• Particularly interested in children’s issues

• Married in 1897, four children

Moved into psychiatry and joined Freud’s discussion group by invitation in 1907

• Moved into psychiatry and joined Freud’s discussion group by invitation in 1907

• Broke with Freud in 1911

• Served as physician in the Austrian army in WWI

• Moved to US in 1934

• Died in 1937

All individuals feel inferior

• All individuals feel inferior

• Inferiority complex
• Superiority Complex

• Individuals deal with inferiority through

• Compensation:
• concentrate on building the weakness
• emphasize other functions
• Masculine protest

• Motivated to strive from a “felt minus”(feeling of inferiority) towards a “felt plus” (feelings of superiority, perfection, and totality)

• Motivating force behind all behavior is called Striving for Perfection or Superiority

• the desire for competence and mastery over ones environment

Results in the development of the Fictional Goal (Fictional Finalism)

• Results in the development of the Fictional Goal (Fictional Finalism)

• The imagined goal or desirable future state that motivates and guides us (whether true or not)
• Unhealthy are inflexible (“The neurotic is nailed to the cross of his fiction…”)
• Healthy people modify (“… The normal individual, too, can and will create his deity …… but will never lose sight of reality …)
• Later called this Guiding Self Idea

Fictional Goal directs an individuals style of life (lifestyle)

• Fictional Goal directs an individuals style of life (lifestyle)

• Our unique combination of motives, interests, attitudes and values.
• Determines how we will act in any situation.
• Helps lead to consistency and uniqueness of personality
• Begins as a compensatory process making up for a particular inferiority
• Includes individual concepts about self, the world and one’s unique way of striving for goals (unifier of personality)

Style of Life

• Style of Life
• Established by age 4 or 5 using the Creative Self
• the dynamic force that allows us to use our experiences and heredity to construct our style of life
• Can be identified through an individual’s early memories
• Doesn’t matter if memories are true or not
• Represents individuals first perceptions of self, world, etc

Four types of lifestyles

• Four types of lifestyles

• Ruling type
• Getting type
• Avoiding type
• Socially useful type

Ruling type:

• Ruling type:

• Seeks to dominate others
• Directly by bullying, etc
• Indirectly by suicide attempts, addictions, etc.

Getting type

• Getting type

• Dependent
• Leans on others for everything
• Most common according to Adler

Avoiding type

• Avoiding type

• Try to not deal with problems, etc.
• Phobias part of this

Socially useful type

• Socially useful type

• Innate trait that makes all humans value contributing to society and the common good of others.
• The most productive way to compensate for individual feelings of inferiority
• The more socially oriented the healthier the individual
• Gemeinschaftsgefuhl

Factors of maladjustment of neurotics

• Factors of maladjustment of neurotics

• Underdeveloped social interest
• Live in their own private world
• Set their goals too high
• Have rigid and dogmatic style of life

Neuroticism creates need for Safeguarding Strategies (defense mechanisms)

• Neuroticism creates need for Safeguarding Strategies (defense mechanisms)

• Three types
• Excuses or rationalizing strategies
• As if excusing them from life due to their illness or symptoms
• “Yes, but…”
• “If only ….”
• Often experience secondary gain as a result of this

Aggressive strategies

• Aggressive strategies
• Open or disguised hostility toward self or others
• Depreciation
• * devalue others through threats or inflating own value
• Accusation
• * blame others (no personal responsibility)
• Self accusation
• * blame self in such a way that it attracts attention, sympathy, etc.
• * sometimes induces guilt in others

Distancing strategies

• Distancing strategies
• Distances themselves from life’s problems
• Restricts participation in life
• Avoids challenging situations when there is risk of failure

Family Constellation

• Family Constellation

• Family Roles

• Treatment

• Pampering
• Rejection

Birth Order (situation into which child is born)

• Birth Order (situation into which child is born)

• Oldest child
• Worst position
• Middle child
• Second born is most fortunate
• Youngest child
• Second worst position
• Only child