Adler Flashcards
Intro to Adler
Alfred Adler (1870-1937) was an Austrian psychologist and psychiatrist. He was born in Vienna on February 7, 1870 and was the third of six children. He was the son of a middle-class Jew merchant and he took his ethic background lightly. Alder described his childhood as a difficult and unhappy time. He enjoyed a loving relationship with his mother during the first 2 years of life but lost that pampered position due to the birth of his younger brother. Alder faced many hardships such as death and illness as his younger brother died and he merely escaped being killed in streets accidents. At the age of 5, Alder contracted a severe case of pneumonia and came extremely close to death. This led him to the decision that he wanted to a doctor. At age 18, Alder entered the University of Vienna where he became actively involved. He became interested in socialism and attended political meetings. Alder received his medical degree in 1895. After leaving university he studied and collaborated with Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis. However, Alder left the orthodox psychoanalytic school to found a Neo-Freudian school of psychoanalysis in 1911. After 1926, he visited a professor at Colombia University and in 1935, he and his family re-located to the United States.
