Adlerian Counselling

Question 1

Give a basic overview of Adlerian Therapy

Answer 1

The main goals of Adlerian theory typically involve overcoming
feelings of inferiority and increasing social connectedness with others. The Adlerian theory’s approach to therapy typically includes other goals, such as: understanding your lifestyle, relationships, and past experiences.

Question 2

Who is the therapist associated with Adlerian Therapy?

Answer 2

Alfred Adler

Question 3

What are the key concepts Adlerian Therapy?

Answer 3

Focused on the person’s past
as perceived in the present
and how an individual’s
interpretation of early events
continued to influence
that person’s present behaviour.

Believes behaviour to be goal directed and purposeful, with behaviour being directed at pursuing some life goal
- movement toward
- movement against
- movement away from
- ambivalent movement

Stresses choice, responsibiity, striving for success, and perfection

Emphasizes strengths and resources

Question 4

What is Adlerian Therapy’s view of human nature?

Answer 4

Believed that individuals begin to form an approach to life
somewhere in the first 6 years of living.

Question 5

What is the focus of Adlerian Therapy?

Answer 5

Consciousness is the focus of therapy

Question 6

What are the goals of Adlerian Therapy?

Answer 6

1. Assist clients in addressing the tasks of life
2. Develop a clients sense of belonging
3. Assist clients in adopting behaviours characterized by community feeling and social interest
4. To help clients maintain health and well-being
5. To help clients prevent problems, rather than remedying them when they happen
6. Modify clients’ lifestyle in the direction of being more adaptive, flexible and social

Question 7

What is the role of the Therapist in Adlerian Therapy?

Answer 7

1. Help clients become aware of their faulty worldview
2. Provide clients with a cognitive map that enables them to change their feelings and behaviours
3. Operates on the assumptoin that clients will feel and behave better once they discover and correct their basic mistakes
4. Help clients to identify and explore their core fears such as being imperfect, being vulnerable, being disapproved of, suffering from past regrets
5. Help clients to facilitate the development of a preferred style of living, a coping style in which the life tasks become opportunities for the development of psycholgocial muscle, and a life in which a community feeling and social interest are manifest in the contributions that people make to others.

Question 8

What is the client’s experience in Adlerian Therapy?

Answer 8

1. Clients focus on desired outcomes and a resilient lifestyle that can provide a new blueprint for their actions
2. They often egin therapy when their unhappiness or emotional disturbance is untolerable
3. Come to therapy with the hope that counsellor will them to feel good, or at least better
4. Learn that negative emitons have a purporse in therapy, signalling that something is not right and needs addressing
5. They learn to link emotional/symptomatic presentation to cognitive orientations, as a way of understanding their maladaptive patterns
6. They undergo lifestyle assessments that aid in a counsellors understanding of the clients’ approach to life and the interpretations they hold about the world

Question 9

What is the client therapist relationship in Adlerian Therapy?

Answer 9

1. Based on cooperation, mutual trust and respect, confidence, collaboration, and alignment of goals
2. Described as two people working equally toward specific, agreed upon goals
3. An egalitarian therapetuc alliance
4. A person-to-person relationship facilitated by emapthy and support by part of the therapist
5. Client and therapist work together to adopt adaptive patterns of functioning as opposed to maladaptive ones

Question 10

What are the Methods, Techinques and Procedures of Adlerian Counselling?

Answer 10

Utilizes encouragement to bring about
change in a person’s beliefs,
helping clients to build self-confidence
and stimulate courage.

4 Central Objectives/Methods

1. Establish a proper therapetuic relationship
2. Explore psychological dynamics operating in the client
   - subjective interview
   - objective interview + lifestyle assessment
3. Encourage the development of self understanding
   - translate insight into action
4. Help clients to make new choices
   - adaptive reorientation and reeducation

Question 11

Strengths from a diversity perspective?

Answer 11

FIND

Question 12

Weaknesses from a diversity perspective?

Answer 12

FIND

Question 13

What is the general description of Adlerian Counselling?

Answer 13

Alfred Adler (1870-1937) developed the first holistic theory of personality, psychopathology, and psychotherapy that was very closely connected to a humanistic philosophy of living. The concepts of the Adlerian approach have had widespread effect across the helping professions both in theory and in practice. The “common sense” basis that the approach has taken has resulted in many of Adler’s ideas being used by other theories. Concepts such as superiority and inferiority complex, total orientation, and lifestyle have become so common that few realize that they originated with Adler.

Adler’s approach views the individual’s state of mental health as being directly related to the degree of social interest. In other words, Adlerians have a positive outlook on human kind and value the well-being of the individual and society over organization and institutions. The core of Adler’s work centres around his optimistic, humanistic view of life.

After Adler’s death in 1937, Rudolph Dreikurs kept the Adlerian approach alive in North America. He was also the Director of the Alfred Adler Institute of Chicago. Dreikurs’s work has been very influential not only in the fields of counselling and psychotherapy, but also in education and teaching (Dreikurs et al., 1982).

Question 14

Upon completion of the lesson you should be able to:

describe the key concepts of the Adlerian approach;
describe the aspects of Adlerian theory as they pertain to the general descriptors listed in Lesson 1;
outline the therapeutic process regarding the therapist, the client and the relationship between the two.

Question 15

The text reading for this lesson is Chapter 5 of Corey (2024). Read the chapter before you begin to do the work in the lesson in order to get an overview of the theory. After reading the textbook material, supplement that information by reading the article by Bitter and Nicoll (2000). As you draw upon the information in the textbook, the article, or any other research sources, think about the definitions of the following basic concepts. If you are still unsure about a definition, you can always consult the on-line glossary.

Question 16

What are the basic concepts of adlerian counselling?

Answer 16

After you have read Chapter 5, begin to work on the meanings of the concepts. As Corey addresses each of the concepts, write down your own definitions.

Life style
Family constellation
Social interest
Teleological
Fictional finalism
Basic inferiority
Early recollections
Reorientation
Birth order
Strive for superiority

Question 17

What are the basic assumptions of Adlerion theory?

Answer 17

There are several basic assumptions that apply to the Adlerian theory. These include:
Behaviour is purposive and goal directed.
Humans are born with a sense of inferiority and a striving for superiority.
To understand the individual one must know the pattern of his/her life (life style).
Perceptions of the world determine one’s behaviour.
We mould our own personalities.
The ideal form of striving is social interest.
Personality is laid down early in life.
Basic obstacles to growth are: organ inferiority, pampering, and neglect.

Question 18

What is the heredity of adlerian therapy?

Answer 18

Heredity: We enter the world with certain genetic givens; however, it is not genetics that affects personality, but the individual’s perception of himself or herself. We inherit a cerebral potential that permits us to hope, dream, aspire, plan, form attitudes, and set goals. These allow us to be creative and self-directing. Environment: Out of the family environment, we develop a sense of self. People can only be understood interpersonally and as social beings moving through and interacting with their environment. Adverse environmental influences include pampering and neglect, leading to the formation of mistaken goals.

Question 19

What is the cognitions of adlerian therapy?

Answer 19

Cognitions: Adler adopted a phenomenological orientation, emphasizing the individual’s perceptions or subjective reality of his or her experiences. (What we are does not determine our behaviour, but what we think we are). He also emphasized the role of learning in the formation of the style of life.

Question 20

What is the motivation for adlerian therapy?

Answer 20

Motivation: Motivation is tied to an innate, never-ending striving for perfection and completion. Social interest is seen as the primary source of motivation. We strive for superiority, social interest, through purposive goal-directed behaviour. Perceived inferiority is a motivating condition for behaviour and striving for goals is a motivational principle.

Question 21

What is the time orientation of adlerian counselling?

Answer 21

There is a moderate emphasis on the past, particularly the importance of early development. Although a historical assessment is made in Adlerian Counselling, the focus is on dealing with the clients’ current perceptions of their past, in an attempt to change goals for the future. Adlerians take a teleological stance, viewing the individual as being pulled toward the future rather than being pushed by the past. (Peterson & Nisenholz, 1999). Expectations of future outcomes determine present behaviour, goals, and ends.

Question 22

What is the adlerian view of human nature?

Answer 22

Humans are primarily social beings. The emphasis is on the client’s subjective frame of reference. People have the capability of self-determination. They are neither good nor bad, but, as creative choosing agents, they make choices based on and reflected in their lifestyle.

Question 23

Does adlerian counselling use Holistic/Atomistic explanations?

Answer 23

Holistic/Atomistic: The Adlerian approach to counselling subscribes to a holistic view of the human nature. “Holism, like Gestalt Psychology, recognizes the whole is more than the sum of its parts. The whole in itself is an active factor; it cannot be explained by the characteristics of its parts, the human being is composed of physical, chemical, and biological structures, with physiological and psychological mechanisms. However, the human body by itself is neither human nor a body; mind, apart from the whole of personality, becomes a functionless abstraction” (Dreikurs, 1997, p. 130).

Question 24

Does adlerian counselling use internal or external determinant explanations?

Answer 24

External/Internal Determinants: Individual psychology places an emphasis on internal values, goals, and interests and the individual’s perception of reality.

Question 25

Does Adlerian Counselling use Nomothetic or Idiographic explanations?

Answer 25

Nomothetic/Idiographic: Case studies (idiographic research) have been the focus of most of research in individual psychology. The emphasis in Adlerian counselling remains on the individual’s unique subjective perception of self and others.

Question 26

Does Adlerian use Longitudinal/cross sectional explanations?

Answer 26

The longitudinal perspective is used to understand the client. This is reflected in the use of early recollections, as well as obtaining a comprehensive client history, all part of the lifestyle assessment.

Question 27

Does Adlerian counselling use tension reduction or tension production?

Answer 27

Tension Reduction/Tension Production: Adlerian therapy is based on tension production: striving for superiority and perfection. It is a growth model, whereby much of a person’s behaviour can be explained as involving an individual’s movement towards growth and self-actualization.

Question 28

What is the observer frame of reference for Adlerian Counselling?

Answer 28

Both internal and external factors are considered in the Adlerian approach to counselling. The theory looks at an individual’s subjective perception of reality. At the same time, the theory is contextual: issues are considered from the perspective of the client’s family and society.

Question 29

What is the bases for inference for Adlerian Counselling?

Answer 29

The theory emphasizes the individual’s uniqueness through such concepts as: private logic, style of life, and creative self. However, Adler proposed a predictive theory of general psychological characteristics that individuals develop based on their early family constellation, more specifically based on their birth position/order among their siblings. At the same time, Adler cautioned therapists against using this theory as a template and thus ignoring the unique idiosyncratic factors that shape individual personality.

Question 30

What is the bases for Psychopathology in adlerian counselling?

Answer 30

Adlerian theory considers the following as possible sources of psychopathology:

lack of social interest, mistaken beliefs and inadequate psychological models, overambition, or discouragement;
poor self concept;
pampering, neglect, organ (physical weaknesses of the body) inferiority, sibling rivalry, and self-defeating behaviour.
Adler believed that these childhood situations tend to result in isolation, a lack of social interest, and the development of a non-cooperative style of life based on an unrealistic goal of personal superiority. In Adler’s theory, neurosis is viewed as an escape from fulfilling one’s duties to the community. It is the symptom of mistaken goals, a failure of learning, a product of distorted perceptions.

To compensate for feelings of inferiority, people strive for superiority. Early in his career, Adler proposed the concept of masculine protest to describe the individuals’ tendency to overcompensate for their real or perceived weakness or limitations. In spite of its name, Adler used this concept to describe both men and women and to include both maladaptive patterns of behaviour (such as vengeful and defiant outbursts of anger) and positive adjustment (such as a woman’s determination to excel in a patriarchal society). Problems can occur when individuals become discouraged and strive for inappropriate goals. These goals are especially recognizable in children and include: gaining attention or power, getting revenge, or acting inadequate.

Attention seeking: the person is continually seeking approval for his or her actions.

Power: the person wants to win, or be in control. Behaviour descriptors include “rebel” and “stubborn”.

Revenge: the person does things to hurt others. Behaviour descriptors include “vicious” or “violently passive”.

Inadequacy: when the person assumes deficiency and gives up trying. The attitude is one of “hopelessness”.

Question 31

What is the bases for healthy personality in Adlerian Counselling?

Answer 31

A healthy individual has a strong social interest and realistic life goals. He or she has an effective, socially acceptable, healthy compensation for perceived inferiorities and is a contributing member of a democratic family and a democratic society.

Question 32

What is the role of the therapist in Adlerian counselling?

Answer 32

The therapist focuses on the importance of educating clients as a preventative measure. The therapist guides the client toward adaptive behaviour, which leads to a reduction in feelings of inferiority. The Adlerian counsellor corrects the client’s mistaken perceptions and develops new goals for behaviour.

Question 33

What are the implications for the helping relationship in Adlerian Counselling?

Answer 33

Therapists need to be aware of the importance of focusing on the individual’s subjective reality.

The primary goal of Adlerian counselling is to develop the clients’ social interest so that they will be able to live as equals in society, both giving to and receiving for others (Mosak, 2000). This may mean re-educating clients to modify their lifestyles. Therapy is a learning experience. Change in behaviour follows a change in motivation through insight. There are three major goals of therapy: (a) understanding the lifestyle, (b) promoting self-understanding, and (c) strengthening social interest.

Question 34

What are the techniques and procedures for Adlerian Counselling?

Answer 34

Encouragement is a major method of responding, one that has been found to be more effective than other social reinforcers, such as praise. Encouragement generally focuses on strengths that the client has but may not acknowledge or appreciate.

Comprehensive Life-Style Assessment: includes eliciting an extensive client history (including possible medications), exploration of family constellation, early recollections, and, to some extent, analysis of dreams. Most Adlerian counsellors are not very keen on using objective psychological tests, regarding them more as a measure of the clients’ test-taking attitudes (Mosak, 2000). However, the most frequently used Adlerian instrument of life-style assessment is the one developed by Shulman and Mosak (1988). Another questionnaire for life-style assessment in brief Adlerian therapy can be found on the website of the Alfred Adler Institutes of San Francisco and Northwestern Washington.

Early Recollections: Clients in Adlerian counselling are invited to recall the earliest memory (or memories) they have about themselves. Those narratives, with all of their details and associated emotions, are interpreted collaboratively in an attempt to capture the current relevance of various aspects of those recollections. Thus, Adlerian counsellors use the interpretation of early recollections as a projective technique, i.e., not focusing on the historical accuracy of those memories, but recognizing that memory is a selective process, whereby clients only remember past events and situations that have some current meaning/relevance in their lives.

The Question: Adlerian counsellors would ask clients: “Suppose you wake up one day and the problem you have been describing no longer exists. How would your life be different if you no longer had this problem?” This essential question is meant to help identify the fundamental human task(s) that the client is unconscious trying to avoid and to help the client set up realistic goals. The Question can also have a differential diagnostic value, by distinguishing between a psychological and a physiological (organic/medical) origin of the client’s presenting concern (Bitter & Nicoll, 2000). With some modifications, the Question was later utilized by other schools of counselling, such as family therapy and the solution-focused approach of Steve de Shazer (rephrased as the “Miracle Question”).

Acting “as if”: Clients are instructed to act “as if” they are the persons they want to be. Asking The Question is usually a simple way to help clients overcome some of their mistaken beliefs and adopt new realistic goals.

Catching Oneself: The client learns to become aware of self-destructive behaviours or thoughts.

Spitting in the Client’s Soup: Adlerians believe that there is a payoff or reward for behaviours that are maintained; therefore, when a counsellor points out the particular payoff for a negative behaviour, the ‘enjoyment’ may be diminished.

Question 35

Comments on Family Constellation (Birth Order) Theory?

Answer 35

The following information was provided by Dr. Du-Fay Der, former professor in the Department of Counselling Psychology at the University of British Columbia. These statements are meant as tentative generalizations regarding the various positions in the birth order. There are many exceptions. These characteristics apply to families in which the siblings were born less than five or six years apart.

Characteristics of the first-born child. When the first-born is the only child, he or she gets undivided attention. The child may feel self-reliant to the point of being spoiled, or very dependent because of over-protection. He or she feels insecure when a second child invades his or her kingdom and may misinterpret this as rejection. This situation is also referred to as the “dethroned child”. The first child may get more attention as a baby because of the inexperience of the parents leading to unnecessary care and attention. The first child tends to be steady, dependable, and even exploits his or her worthiness at the expense of brothers or sisters. Usually a high achiever, the first-born is the subject of higher expectations from the part of the parents. He or she tends to follow the parent’s values and attitudes. Serious and studious, the first-born tries to please or obey parents. First-borns are usually orderly and good leaders. If dethroned by the second-born, the first child may become a problem child.

Characteristics of the second-born child. The second-born child usually feels that he or she cannot compare with the older sibling and tries to find a different place in the family. Therefore, the second-born may adopt ways of behaving that are similar to the youngest child until the third child comes. Unacceptable behaviour is usually based on discouragement, but it may also represent an early sign of over-compensation, which may lead to positive outcomes and achievements. What the second-born child does with his/her situation depends upon how he/she perceives it. Quite often, the second-born may be compared unfavourably with the older sibling. Often his or her interests and achievements are different from those of the older brother or sister. This may include being less steady and poised. The second-born may be active and pushy. If the first child is a good student, the second may present behavioural problems. The second child may be sociable, outgoing, and happy-go-lucky. Sometimes, the second child may feel squeezed, unloved, and unnoticed, which leads to feelings of discouragement.

Characteristics of the third-born child. Once the two older siblings have established their positions within the family constellation, the third-born tends to be viewed as the “baby”, which secures a special amount of attention and services. This works so well that, in some cases, it may continue into adulthood. The third-born may occasionally resent this perceived inferior position and may attempt to dominate (“chip on shoulder”). This is when the first and the third child may join forces (form an alliance) against the middle child. With everyone doing things for “the baby”, the third-born may be deprived of the opportunity to develop self-confidence and self-reliance. The third-born often struggles to be noticed and seeks approval for his/her accomplishments. The third-born child may be spoiled by the family. He or she may also be the boss of the family by playing helpless, thus making everyone serve him/her. Sometimes, it is the third-born who outperforms all others. The third-born is not usually a leader, rather a follower, and is not known to be tidy and neat.

The only child. The only child is in a very difficult situation. He or she is a child among adults, a dwarf among giants. This child has no siblings to relate to. The goal may become one of pleasing or manipulating adults. He or she either develops adult viewpoints, is precocious in understanding and reaching an adult level, or is hopelessly an eternal baby, always feeling inferior to others. The relationships to other children are often strained and uncertain because of a failure to understand them. The only child does not develop a feeling of belonging to groups of children, unless exposed early to group/peer experiences.

Question 36

What are the exceptions to the rule for adlerian counselling?

Answer 36

Only boy among girls (or vice versa). An only boy among girls, regardless of his position, would find his gender either an advantage or a disadvantage, depending upon the family value placed upon the male role and his own estimate of his ability to live up to it. The same would be true of an only girl among boys.

The weak or sickly child. A weak or sickly child among healthy, robust siblings might discover the role of an invalid advantageous if the family pities him or her. But, if robust health is a high family value and weakness is scorned, he/she would find himself/herself faced with an obstacle. The child would have the choice of giving up, living in self-pity, and feeling like a victim, or of striving to overcome the illness and matching the activities of the other siblings, even, perhaps, outdoing them.

Child born after the death of the first sibling. Such a child is really the second child living with a ghost ahead of him/her. Also, this child is in the position of a first-born child. The mother may overprotect this child out of her fear of losing him/her. This child may choose to bask in this stifling atmosphere or may rebel and strive for independence.

The youngest child with many siblings. The youngest child may soon discover that he or she has many servants, which may lead to the development of a sense of helplessness. If parents are not aware of this or are unconsciously encouraging it, the youngest child plays the role of the “helpless little thing” and is forever dependent.

Siblings born many years apart. Both children may develop characteristics similar to the only child.

Question 37

After reading the chapter in Corey (2024), you will have clarified the fundamental concepts of the Adlerian approach. As you review the assumptions about human nature and Adler’s view of inferiority feelings, reflect on whether you experience a sense of perceived inferiority in your life? How well does the concept fit for you?
Family Constellation (Birth Order). Adler suggested that birth order is a major determinant in shaping personality. Review the following generalizations regarding birth order and consider your own self-concept as it relates to these general descriptions. How did your position in your family constellation affect your personal growth? For more descriptors of psychological characteristics based on birth order, visit the website of the Alfred Adler Institute of San Francisco.
Self Reflections
Adler’s view of human nature focuses on internal determinants of behaviour such as: values, beliefs, attitudes, goals, interests, and striving for meaning. It also stresses the social determinants of personality. How does the model differ from the Freudian model, and what are the implications for therapy?
Define and briefly discuss the following concepts from the Adlerian perspective:
basic inferiority
striving for superiority
style of life
childhood experiences
Adler believed that we create ourselves as opposed to being passively shaped and determined by childhood experiences. Do you favour this view? Why?
In their article, Bitter and Nicoll (2000) state that Adlerians use The Question as a “verifying intervention”. Explain what they mean by that.
A client of yours, a young girl, informs you that she feels inferior to her sister, which, in turn, makes her feel extremely guilty whenever she surpasses her sister in school. As an Adlerian counsellor, how would you proceed to understand and alleviate her feelings of guilt?
Compare and contrast a first-born with a last-born child in terms of typical behavioural characteristics according to Adler.
Your clients, a young couple, claim that they are unable to make their children follow the house rules. The more authoritarian the couple tries to be, the less compliant their children become. Explain why the children refuse to cooperate and suggest ways in which the parents can achieve compliance.