1. Adlerian Therapy

2. Adler’s Theory of Personality
These four factors impact the development of personality.
Lifestyle
Social interest
Birth order
Inferiority and Superiority

3. Lifestyle The lifestyles are based on 1. Social interest
caring for others and cooperating with others.
2. Energy
Energy that an individuals has for dealing with his problems.

4. Four types of lifestyles
the Socially Useful type
a person with high social interest and energy may like to help others.
the Ruling type
a person with little social interest but high energy may take a dominating approach to society.
the Getting type
A person with little social interest and energy may wait for others to satisfy their needs
the Avoiding type
A person with low social interest and energy may avoid failure by avoiding involvement with friends, occupation, and family.

5. Social Interest Social interest: a sense of empathy toward others.
Social interest is taught in the parent-child relationship.
Community feeling: a sense of social connectedness
Many problems are related to the fear of not being accepted by the groups we value. Then, anxiety is the result.

6. Birth Order Oldest child: receives more attention
Second of only two: behaves as if in a race
Middle: often feels squeezed out
Youngest: the baby
Only child: does not learn to share with others
How birth order impacts our development of personality?

7. Inferiority and Superiority
The striving for superiority is natural.
Superiority is to inflate one’s self-importance in order to overcome inferiority feelings.
People may try to present themselves as strong and capable when they actually feel not as capable as others.

8. View of Human Nature
Stress choice and responsibility, meaning in life, and the striving for competence or perfection.
Focus on inferiority feelings---motivated to become successful (superiority)
Focus on subjective experiences

9. Therapeutic Goals Building a Collaborative relationship
Cultivate a sense of belonging
Encouragement is the most powerful method for a person to change
Changing the patterns of basic mistakes (private logic, self-defeating behaviors)

10. Therapist’s function and role
Identify the patterns of basic mistakes
Lack of confidence, mistrust, unrealistic ambition
Conduct an assessment
Gather information through family constellation, early recollections, or lifestyle assessment
Focus on clients’ interpretation of experiences
Develop alternative options

11. Client’s Experience in Therapy
Are not aware of the basic mistake
Help to discover the motivation of basic mistake
Do not know how to act differently
Fear of letting go the old patterns for unpredictable new alternative options
Cling to old patterns although they are maladaptive

12. Relationship b/w Therapist & Client
Cooperation, mutual trust, respect
Making a contract with clients
Write down the details of what they want
What is preventing them from reaching goals
How to change unproductive behavior into constructive behavior
How to make use of their strengths

13. Therapeutic Techniques & Procedures
1. Establishing the relationship
Deeply care and involve
Identify personal issues
Increase the awareness of strengths
Focus on subjective experiences and core patterns (basic mistake or private logic)

14. Therapeutic Techniques & Procedures
2. Exploring the individual’s dynamics
Client tells his or her story; clients as expert
through
Family dynamics and Constellation (relationships among siblings, parents, friends, and teachers)
Early Recollections (memories clients recall)
Dream (childhood or current dreams)
Basic mistake or private logic and its motivation
Personality priorities

15. Basic Mistake (Private Logic)
Overgeneralizations
I can never do anything right.
False or Impossible goals of security
I’ll never succeed
Misperceptions of life and life’s demands
Life is too hard. I never get a break.
Minimization or denial of one’s basic worth
I am stupid. No one likes me.
Faulty values
Take advantage of others before they take advantage of you

16. Personality priorities (see handout)
Superiority (or significance)
Control
Comfort
Pleasing

17. Therapeutic Techniques & Procedures
3. Encouraging self-understanding and insight
Insight: an understanding of motivations that operate in a client’s life
Disclosure and interpretations: techniques that facilitate the process of gaining insight.

18. Therapeutic Techniques & Procedures
4. Helping with reorientation
Putting insights into practice
Increasing a sense of belonging
Decreasing withdrawal from self-protection

19. Therapeutic Techniques & Procedures
4. Helping with reorientation
Encouragement
No intervention is more important than encouragement
Help clients identify self-defeating patterns
Make use of assets, strengths, and resources
Search for new possibilities
Making a difference

20. From multicultural perspectives: contributions
Social equality, sensitive to cultural and gender issues
Focusing on a person in a social context
Social interests, sense of belonging, cooperation (instead of competition)
Focusing on family
Subjective experience (unique world of a person)

21. From multicultural perspectives: limitations
Self as the locus of change may be problematic for some clients
Detailed explorations of one’s early family experiences may violate some cultural values
Some clients may expect therapists to provide them with solutions to the problems

22. Summary and evaluation: contributions
Integrative, short-term, psycho-educational focus, and combining system and cognitive perspective
Forerunner of existential and subjective approach of psychology

23. Summary and evaluation: Limitations
Too simplistic
Limited research support
Limited for clients who
seek immediate solutions,
have little interest in exploring early childhood experiences, and
who do not have an understanding of the purpose of exploring the past