Adlerian Therapy

Adlerian Therapy -Foundations and Application

Basic assumptions: • A central belief that happiness and success are related to a sense of social connectedness. • Humans have a basic need to feel secure, accepted, and worthwhile. • Anxiety results when we feel we do not belong.

Adler’s View of Human Nature • Focus is on how person’s perception of past continually influences • Humans are motivated by social relatedness • Stresses choice and responsibility, meaning in life, and striving for success • Inferiority is a normal condition of all people

Adler’s Theory of Personality • First systemic therapist • Maintained that it is essential to understand people within systems • Viewed the individual as a whole, unified organism but emphasized the importance of the individual’s interactions with the rest of society • The individual is a creative and goal-directed person who is responsible for his/her own fate.

Alfred Adler’s Individual Psychology • A phenomenological approach • Social interest is stressed • Birth order and sibling relationships are important • 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 • How life is in reality is less important than how the individual 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

Social Interest and Community Feeling (Gemeinschaftsgefuhl) • 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

Birth Order & Sibling Relationships • Oldest Child • Dependable, hard working, strives to keep ahead • Second Child • Typically behaves as if she were in a race and is generally under full steam • Middle Child • Often feels squeezed out • May be a peacemaker • Youngest Child • Tends to be most pampered • Tends to go her own way • Only Child • High Achievers • May become dependently tied to one or both parents Adler stresses that actual birth order is less important than the individual’s interpretation of his or her place in the family.

Mastering Universal Life Tasks • Building friendships (social task) • Establishing intimacy (love-marriage task) • Contributing to society (occupational task) • Getting along with ourselves (self-acceptance) • Developing our spiritual dimension All so fundamental to human living that dysfunction in one may be indicator of a psychological disorder.

Fostering social interest Helping clients overcome feelings of discouragement and inferiority Modifying client’s views and goals (their lifestyle) Changing faulty assumptions Assisting clients to feel a sense of equality with others, sense of belonging Helping people to become contributing members of society Therapeutic Goals

Encouragement • Encouragement is the most powerful method available for changing a person’s beliefs • Helps build self-confidence and stimulates courage (willingness to act even when fearful) • 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

The Therapeutic Process • Phase 1 • Establishing the Relationship • Phase 2 • Exploring the Individual’s Dynamics (The Question, family constellation, early recollections, challenging personality priorities) • Phase 3 • Encouraging Self-Understanding and Insight (motivations that operate in client’s life) • Phase 4 • Helping with Reorientation and Reeducation (putting insight into practice; acting “as if” they were the people they want to be)

Asking “The Question” • “How would your life be different, and what would you do differently, if you did not have this problem? • Used to determine whether the client’s problem is physical or psychological… • Example: • If I had a magic pill that would eliminate the symptoms of your problem immediately, how would your life be different?

Physical basis: “I would feel better, like I wouldn’t want to drive a railroad spike through my forehead to release the pressure” • Psychological basis: “I would feel better and wouldn’t wind turning my visits with Jerry into constant nightmares!”

Techniques… • Subjective interview • Counselor helps client tell her story as completely as possible • The Family Constellation • Goal is to elicit client’s perception of self and others, of development & experiences impacting development • Early Recollections • Assessment of strengths, coping, convictions and expectations • Personality Priorities • Building upon awareness that priorities become pathways for relating to others

Techniques… • Immediacy • Paradoxical Intention • To decrease involuntary fear’s control on client’s life • Acting as if… • Spitting in the client’s soup: Spoiling a dysfunctional attitude, behavior or thought through confrontation – point out what is not working and make it less appealing to the client to do it

Acting As If • Many clients use the ploy “If only I could…” • CL: “If I only I could deal with my co-worker honestly every time she drops by my office” • Counselor: “For the next week, I want you to try this. Treat everybody, particular this coworker, as if they are guests in your home that you invited over for a cup of coffee and that they are there at your invitation…”

Spitting in the Soup • Unveils the hidden motivation of the client’s self-defeating behavior by setting up an approach-avoidance situation. • By spitting in the soup, the counselor makes the situation extremely unpalatable

Spitting in the Soup Example • CL: “I don’t know, making friends is so hard, I just feel like giving up” • CO: “You certainly have the choice of doing that, of giving up” • CL: “What? You’re supposed to be supportive”

Spitting in the Soup example cont. • CO: “Right now you’d like me to say something like, “You’ve got to keep at it; you’ll ultimately prevail.” Yet I believe that’s kind of a game you play so you can be dependent on others and then blame them when things go wrong. If you want to play that, okay with me”

Techniques Continued • Push Button • Recognizing entrapment • Task Setting & Commitment • Terminating & Summarizing

Push the button • Used for clients who believe their emotions can control them. • Technique involves the client alternately picture pleasant and unpleasant experiences and note the feelings that accompany the experiences. • Clients become aware that they can control their emotions, and not visa versa

Recognizing Entrapment • Client carries perceptions on life into sessions (anger, discouragement, seductiveness, martyrdom, etc.) and sets traps for the unwary counselor as the client resists change…

Recognizing Entrapment Example • CL: “It’s up and down. I’ve been coming here for 12 weeks and I don’t see us any further along than when we started” • CO: “You’d like me to get discouraged and give up on you. The work has been getting tougher and you’d like to have an excuse for not having to go any further in this change process”

Multicultural Contributions • Its emphasis on understanding the individual in a familial and sociocultural context • Adheres to a holistic perspective on life • Values understanding individuals in terms of their core goals and purposes • The role of social interest and contributing to others • The focus on belonging and the collective spirit • Offers flexibility in the range of techniques

Limitations for Multicultural Counseling • Adlerian approach tends to focus on the self as locus of change and responsibility • Involves a detailed exploration of one’s childhood, early memories, and family dynamics • Some cultures may see therapist as “problem solver or expert” and expect to be provided with solutions

Significant Strength The phenomenological nature of the Adlerian approach lends itself to understanding the worldview of others.

Adlerian Therapy - Foundations and Application