ADLERIAN PSYCHOTHERAPY IN MENTAL HEALTH

Some little information about ADLERIAN psychotherapy is so important in mental health.

Adlerian theory is at once a model of personality, a theory of psychopathology, and the foundation of a treatment method. Adler’s theory of Individual Psychology is based on a humanistic model of man. Among the basic principles are:

1.Holism. The Adlerian views man as a unit, not as a collection of drives or instincts divided against themselves.

2.Field. Theory. The individual can be studied only by his movement within his social field. Therefore, the Adlerian therapist is extremely sensitive to the client’s interpersonal transactions. Especially examined are the “tasks” of work, sexuality, and the individual’s feelings of belonging to the social group.

3.Teleology. (inferiority feelings and the striving for significance). While Adler’s name is linked most often with the term ‘Inferiority complex,”toward the end of his career he became more concerned with observing the individual’s struggle for significance or competence (later discussed by others as self-realization, self-actualization, etc.). He believed that, standing before the unknown,each person strives to become more perfect and is motivated by one dynamic force — the upward striving for completion — and all else (traits, drives, etc.) is subordinated to this one master motive.Thus, all behaviour can be observed as purposeful movement toward a final end point of significance. Behaviour is understood as goal-directed movement (the teleological point of view), though the person may not be fully aware of this motivation.

4.The Creative Self. It is the creative self that determines the idiosyncratic nature of behaviour. Adler postulated that it is neither the individual’s genetic endowment nor his social environment that determines his behaviour, but that each person responds in an adaptive, creative way to the social field in which he finds himself.

The concept of the creative self places the responsibility for the individual’s personality into his own hands. It does not mean, though, that he is to be blamed for his creation, since we all believe we have chosen the best way of life under any given circumstances.But since the Adlerian therapist sees the client as responsible for himself, he attempts to show the client that he cannot blame others or uncontrollable forces for his current condition.

5.Life-Style. Adler believed that each individual’s striving toward a guiding ideal of significance and social belonging could be observed as a pattern that manifests itself early in life and runs as a theme throughout one’s lifetime. This life-style pattern is seen in all aspects of a person’s behavior — it is his perceptual style.If one understands an individual’s lifestyle, his behaviour makes sense.