Theories of Counselling > Week 3 > Flashcards
Week 3 Flashcards
inferiority feelings
The early determining force in behavior; the source of human striving and the wellspring of creativity. Humans attempt to compensate for both imagined and real inferiorities, which helps them overcome handicaps.
Individual Psychology
Adler’s original name for his approach that stressed understanding the whole person, how all dimensions of a person are interconnected, and how all these dimensions are unified by the person’s movement toward a life goal.
holistic concept
We cannot be understood in parts; all aspects of ourselves must be understood in relation to each other.
fictional finalism
An imagined central goal that gives direction to behavior and unity to the personality; an image of what people would be like if they were perfect and perfectly secure.
guiding self-ideal
Another term for fictional finalism, which represents an individual’s image of a goal of perfection.
Lifestyle
The core beliefs and assumptions through which the person organizes his or her reality and finds meaning in life events. Our perceptions of self, others, and the world. Our characteristic way of thinking, acting, feeling, living, and striving toward long-term goals.
Social interest
A sense of identification with humanity; a feeling of belonging; an interest in the common good.
Community feeling
An individual’s awareness of being part of the human community. Community feeling embodies the sense of being connected to all humanity and to being committed to making the world a better place.
Life Tasks
- Social Task (friendships)
- love-marriage Task
- Occupational Task (contributing to society)
Birth order
Adler identified five psychological positions from which children tend to view life: oldest, second of only two, middle, youngest, and only. Actual birth order itself is less important than a person’s interpretation of his or her place in the family.
basic mistakes
Faulty, self-defeating perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs that may have been appropriate at one time but are no longer useful. These are myths that are influential in shaping personality.
family constellation
The social and psychological structure of the family system; includes birth order, the individual’s perception of self, sibling characteristics and ratings, and parental relationships. Each person forms his or her unique view of self, others, and life through the family constellation.
Early recollections
Childhood memories (before the age of 9) of one-time events. People retain these memories as capsule summaries of their present philosophy of life. From a series of early recollections, it is possible to understand mistaken notions, present attitudes, social interests, and possible future behavior.
lifestyle assessment
The process of gathering early memories, which involves learning to understand the goals and motivations of the client.
private logic
Basic convictions and assumptions of the individual that underlie the lifestyle pattern and explain how behaviors fit together to provide consistency.
Adlerian brief therapy
An intervention that is concise, deliberate, direct, efficient, focused, short-term, and purposeful.
subjective interview
The process whereby the counselor helps clients tell their life story as completely as possible.
objective interview
Adlerians seek basic information about the client’s life as a part of the lifestyle assessment process.
family atmosphere
The climate of relationships among family members.
insight
A special form of awareness that facilitates a meaningful understanding within the therapeutic relationship and acts as a foundation for change.
Interpretation
Understanding clients’ underlying motives for behaving the way they do in the here and now.
Reorientation
The phase of the counseling process in which clients are helped to discover a new and more functional perspective and are encouraged to take risks and make changes in their lives.
Encouragement
The process of increasing one’s courage to face life tasks; used throughout therapy as a way to counter discouragement and to help people set realistic goals.
goal alignment
A congruence between the client’s and the counselor’s goals and the collaborative effort of two persons working equally toward specific, agreed-on goals.
Main themes and key concepts of the Adlerian perspective
A key concept of the Adlerian perspective is the adoption of the phenomenological approach, which focuses on the unique way in which an individual perceives their world through the client’s subjective experience. By focusing on the internal determinants of behaviour, such as values, beliefs, attitudes, goals, interests, and the individual’s perception of reality, Adler believed how a client interprets their reality and the meaning they place on their experiences to be more important than their objective reality. In this view, interpersonal relationships are emphasised, with personality and behaviour reflected in an individual’s thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and attitudes, rather than on internal psychodynamics such as instincts and unconscious motives.
Lifestyle
Lifestyle refers to the guiding principles of an individual’s life that give meaning to their life events, such as an individual’s core beliefs and assumptions about themselves, others, and the world, as well as their personal ways of thinking, acting, feeling, living, and striving towards goals. Through the setting of goals that have personal meaning, behaviour becomes purposeful and directed, creating a style of life where their tendency to strive for superiority and perfection unifies an individual’s behaviours to provide consistency. Failure to achieve this particular and unique lifestyle in the context of the individual’s goals is what then leads to psychiatric symptoms.
Social interest
Adlet believed that mental health could be measured through the degree to which individuals successfully identify and empathise with others through what he termed social interest. In this view, individuals cannot be understood in isolation from the social context, rather they are best understood through their awareness of being part of the human community and their attitudes in dealing with their social world. Primarily moticated by a desire to belong, individuals with a sense of social interest strive for a better future for humanity through a healthy and socially useful way of life, in turn weakening feelings of inferiority and alienation.
Feelings of superiority and inferiority
In Adler’s view, people are motivated to achieve superiority and perfection to overcome the negative feelings (e.g., feelings of helplessness) associated with inferiority and compensation. Feelings of inferiority are a normal part of the human condition and are the driving force behind creativity to achieve mastery, success, and enable people to overcome obstacles. Rather than necessarily a goal of superiority over others, these feelings contribute to the development of the human community through a focus on moving to a perceived better position in relation to oneself (e.g., turning weakness into a strength).
Birth order and sibling relationships in the development of the person
The focus on how an individual currently perceives their early life also emphasises the role that the family system has played in the development of a person’s overall experience. In particular, birth order was believed to be highly influential as individuals interpret their place within their family of origin, which later influences how they interact with others as adults. Again, it is the individual’s interpretation of their place in the family system, rather than the actual birth order—for example, a second-born child out of four may view themselves as the youngest when there is a 10-year gap between them and the next child. Adler identified five key birth order positions that influence one’s psychological development.
The oldest child
As the centre of attention in their early years, the oldest child has typically been spoilt during their time as the only child. As later children arrive, however, the oldest child begins to believe that the newborn will steal all their parent’s love and attention, as they are removed from the favoured position and are no longer unique or special.
The second child (of only two)
Having only ever experienced a circumstance of shared attention, the second child engages in a competitive struggle with the first child, appearing as if the child were training to surpass their older sibling. The second child seeks praise from parents and teachers by striving for success in areas of weakness for the first child, often ending up as the opposite to the first-born.
The middle child
The middle child, having had similar experiences to both the oldest child and the second child, often ends up feeling that life is unfair or that they have been cheated, as they feel squeezed out. Middle children may adopt a ‘poor me’ attitude, becoming a problem child, or, in families characterised by conflict, they may act as peacemaker and help to hold things together.
The youngest child
The youngest child is typically the most pampered, as they remain the baby of the family. Their development is often quite different to the other children, potentially prompting them to outshine the others, and may become expert at putting others in their service by developing helplessness into an art form.
The only child
Although they share some similarities with the first child, such as a high achievement drive, the only child may not learn to cooperate or share with other children. As their familial system comprised of only adults other than themselves, they learn to interact well with adults and may develop a dependence on one or both of them.
Counselling from the Adlerian perspective
Therapy from an Adlerian perspective focuses on four central objectives corresponding to the four phases of the therapeutic process. These phases are flexible and intertwined throughout the therapeutic relationship. Select the titles to expand and explore what is involved in these phases.
Establishing the proper therapeutic relationship:
- Collaborative, supportive, educational, and encouraging progress.
- Person-to-person contact with the client comes before identification of the problem.
- Help the client build awareness of their strengths.
Exploring the individual’s psychological dynamics:
Conduct a life assessment through:
- subjective interview
- objective interview
- family constellation
- early recollections
- basic mistakes.
Encourage self-understanding and insight:
- Interpret the findings of the assessment.
- Hidden goals and purposes of behaviour and made conscious.
- Therapist offers interpretations to help clients gain insight into their lifestyle.
Reorientation and re-education:
- Action-oriented by putting insights into practice.
- Useful (belonging, being valued, interest in others’ welfare, courage, confidence) versus unhelpful (self-absorption, withdrawal from life tasks, self-protection).
The importance of encouragement
Encouragement in this sense means to ‘build courage’ and is central to all phases of counselling. Counsellors can assist their clients in building courage by helping them to become aware of their strengths, feel as though they belong, and maintain a sense of hope. The counsellor is thus required to have faith in other people, expect them to maintain control over their lives, and value them for who they are. Discouragement, on the other hand, is the basic condition preventing people from functioning, and the counsellor’s role is help clients identify and challenge self-defeating cognitions, generate perceptual alternatives, and make use of assets, strengths, and resources.
The application to group counselling
As the Adlerian perspective views problems as mainly social in nature, group counselling can provide a context through which members can develop their sense of belonging, social connectedness and community. The value-forming mechanism of groups allows for feelings of inferiority to be challenged, promoting social interest through the role of altruism by helping others in the group. Early recollections can be shared to promote connectedness and group cohesion, and participants are encouraged to act like the person they want to be in a space that encourages challenging erroneous beliefs about themselves, life, and others, and consideration of different beliefs, behaviours, and attitudes. Adlerian group therapy can communicate to clients that change can occur within a short space of time due to its brief and time limited nature.
Limitations
Now that you have explored this week’s approach and applied it to two case studies, it is time to consider the limitations of the Adlerian approach. Remember that for Assignment 2: Essay you will be asked to critically evaluate the strengths and limitations of the two approaches you have chosen in the treatment of a client.
Although the Adlerian perspective provides many worthwhile contributions to the therapeutic process, it has been considered as too simplistic and difficult to objectively measure the theoretical constructs involved, particularly since Adler spent most of his time teaching his theory rather than systematically documenting it. As such, research on the efficacy of treatment from an Adlerian perspective is limited, making it difficult to adopt an evidence-based practice from this approach. Other limitations involve the cultural context, as the consideration of self as the locus of control may not apply to all clients from diverse cultural backgrounds. In addition, the views on birth order are largely based on Western views, and these may not be as relevant to those who do not grow up in this context.
Adlerian therapy is well suited to a brief or time-limited approach.
True
Adler chose the name ‘individual psychology’ for his theoretical approach because he wanted to avoid reductionist divisions.
True
Striving for superiority is seen as a neurotic manifestation.
False
Adler maintains that our style of life is not set until middle age.
False
Adlerian theory is well suited to counselling diverse populations.
True
Adlerian counsellors do not make interpretations.
False
Adlerians place relatively little importance on the quality of the client–therapist relationship.
False
Assessment is a basic part of the counselling process.
True
Insight is best defined as understanding translated into action.
True
Adlerians believe childhood experiences in themselves are the decisive factor in shaping personality.
False
According to Adler, childhood experiences:
in themselves are not as crucial as our attitude toward these experiences.
The Adlerian point of view toward the role of insight in therapy is best stated in this way:
To be of value, insight must be translated into a constructive action program
Which of the following statements is not true as it is applied to Adlerian therapy?
The approach is grounded on the medical model.
Adler linked the recognition of inferiority feelings with striving for perfection or mastery. This notion is best captured by the saying:
Inferiority and the quest for mastery are two sides of the same coin.
The lifestyle assessment includes information based on all of the following, except:
The individual constellation.
Which is the correct sequence of human experiencing from an Adlerian perspective?
First we think, then we feel, then we act.
Adlerians could best be described as using which techniques?
They fit a variety of techniques to the needs of each client.
How would the Adlerian therapist view the personal problems of clients?
As the end result of a process of discouragement.
Which of the following is not one of the four phases of the Adlerian therapeutic process?
Teaching the client the process of free association.
Which term does not fit Adlerian therapy?
Deterministic
Which of the following does Adler not stress?
Biological and instinctual drives.
The phenomenological orientation pays attention to the:
way in which individuals perceive their world.
The concept of fictional finalism refers to:
an imagined life goal that guides a person’s behavior.
The concept of fictional finalism refers to:
an imagined life goal that guides a person’s behavior.
Adlerians consider all of the following factors to be influential in an individual’s life except:
Birthday.
Adlerians value early recollections as an important clue to the understanding of:
the unconscious dynamics that motivate behavior.
Notes from the Book
Alder abandoned Freuds basic theories because he believed Freud was excessively narrow in his emphasis on biological and instinctual determination. Adler believed that the individual begins to form an approach to life somewhere in the first six years of living.
Adler stressed choice and responsibility, meaning in life, and the striving for success, completion and perfection
Their individual and distinct childhood experiences, their personal struggles and the populations with whom they worked were key factors in the development of their particular views of human nature
Adlers theory starts with a consideration of inferiority feelings, which he saw as a normal condition a sign of weakness or abnormality, inferiority feelings can be the wellspring of creativity. They motivate us to strive for mastery, success and completion
From the Adlerian perspective, human behaviour is neither determined by heredity nor environment. Instead we have the capacity to interpret, influence, and create events
Adlerians recognise that biological and environmental conditions limit our capacity to choose and to create
Adlerians put the focus on reducating individuals and reshaping society
Subjective Perception of Reality – Adlerians attempt to view the world from the clients subjective frame of reference, an orientation described as phenomenological.
Unity and Patterns of Human Personality – Adler chose the name ‘Individual Psychology’ for his theoretical approach because he wanted to avoid Freuds reductionist divisions such as ego, id and superego. Indivisible psychology – Adler emphasized the unity and indivisibility of the person and stressed understanding the whole person in the context of his or her life.
Holistic Concept – implies that we cannot be understood in parts; rather all aspects of ourselves must be understood in relationship to the socially embedded contexts of family, culture, school and work. An implication of this view is that the client is an integral part of a social system. There is more emphasis on interpersonal relationships than on the individuals internal psychodynamics.
Behaviour as Purposeful and Goal Oriented – Individual psychology assume that all human behaviour has a purpose, and this purposefulness is the cornerstone of Alders theory. The purpose and goals toward which we strive. Adlerians look for continuity by paying attention to themes running through a persons life. Adler was influenced by the philosopher Hans Vaihinger 1965 – who noted that people often live by fictions. Many Adlerians use the term functional finalism to refer to an imagined life goal that guides a persons behaviour. It should be noted however that Adler ceased using this term and replaced it with guiding self ideal and goal of perception to account for our striving toward superiority and perfection. Striving for perfection implies striving for greater competence not only for oneself but for the common good of others.
Striving for significance and Superiority – Adler stressed that the recognition of inferiority feelings and the consequent striving for perfection or mastery are innate; they are two sides of the same coin. ‘Inferiority feelings are global, subjective and evaluating; generalisations that tend to be held onto despite evidence to the contrary.’ Feelings of inferiority can serve as catalysts, motivating people to make extra efforts to reach their goals. The goal of superiority contributes to the development of human community. The manner in which Adler reacted to his childhood and adolescent experiences of loss, rejection and poor academic grades is a living example of this aspect of his theory.
Lifestyle – synonyms for this term include, plan of life, style of life, strategy for living and road map of life. Often described as our perceptions regarding self, others, and the world. Adler saw us as actors, creators and artists. Adler maintained that the goal of success pulls people forward toward mastery and enables them to overcome obstacles. We can reframe childhood and experiences and consciously create new style of living.
Social Interest and Community Feeling – social interests, is the kind of empathic bonding people feeling for each other and the responsible actions and attitudes they take toward one another, a sense of belonging and participating with others for the common good. Social interest requires that we have enough contact with the present to make a move toward a meaningful future, that we are willing to five and to take, and that we develop our capacity for contributing to the welfare of others and strive for the betterment of humanity. The socialisation process associated with social interest begins in childhood and involves helping children find a place in society and acquire a sense of belonging. As social interest develops feelings of inferiority and alienation diminish. People express social interest through shared activity, cooperation, participation in the common good and mutal respect. Community feeling embodies the feeling of being connected to all of humanity – past, present and future – and to being involved in making the world a better place.
The life tasks – Adler taught that we must successfully master three universal life task: building friendships, establishing intimacy, and contributing to society. Capacities for friendships and belonging, for contribution and self-worth, and for cooperation. These basic life tasks are so fundamental that impairment in any one of them is often an indicator of a psychological disorder. Most people get into difficulty when they lack courage and seek to avoid the demands posed by these life tasks.
Birth Order and Sibling Relationships – The Adlerian approach is unique in giving special attention to the relationships between siblings and the psychological birth positions in ones family. 5 psychological positions – oldest, second of only two, middle, younger and only. Birth order is not a deterministic concept but does increase an individuals probability of having a certain set of experiences. Although siblings share aspects in common in the family constellation, the psychological situation of each child is different from that of the others due to birth order:
1. The oldest child – generally receives a good deal of attention and during the time she is the only child, she is typically somewhat spoiled as the centre of attention.
2. The second child of only two is in a different position. From the time she is born, she shares the attention with another child. The typical second child behaves as if she was in a race and is generally under full steam at all times.
3. The middle child often feels squeezed out. This child may become convinced of the unfairness of life and feel cheated.
4. The youngest child is always the baby of the family and tends to be the most pampered one. Because of being pampered or spoiled he may develop helplessness into an art form and become an expert at putting others in his service.
5. The only child has a problem of her own. Although she shares some of the characteristics of the other child she may not learn to share or cooperate with other children.
Birth order and the interpretation of ones position in the family have a great deal to do with adults interact in the world.
The Therapeutic Goals – Adlerian counselling and therapy rests on a collaborative arrangement between the client and the counsellor. In general, the therapeutic process includes forming a relationship based on mutual respect; a holistic psychological investigation or lifestyle assessment; and disclosing mistaken goals and faulty assumptions with the persons style of living. A key goal is to assist clients in addressing the tasks of life. Adlerian theory is an optimistic perspective that views people as creative, unique, capable and responsible. Courage is willingness to act even when fearful in ways that are consistent with social interest. Adlerian counsellors provide clients with an opportunity to view things from a different perspective, yet it is up to clients to decide whether to accept an alternative perspective. Maniacci and Sackett-Maniacci suggest working toward these goals during the educational process of therapy:
- Foster social interest and community feeling
- Helping clients overcome feelings of discouragement and inferiority
- Modify clients lifestyles in the direction of becoming more adaptive, flexible and social
- Change faulty motivation
- Encourage equality and acceptance of self and others
- Help individuals become contributing members of the world and community
Therapists Function and Role – Adlerian therapists realise that clients can become discouraged and function ineffectively because of mistaken beliefs, faulty values, and useless or self-absorbed goals. Therapists tend to look for major mistakes in thinking and valuing such as mistrust, selfishness, unrealistic ambitions and lack of confidence. Often help clients identify and explore their core fears such as being imperfect, being vulnerable, being disapproved of, or suffering from past regrets. Therapists often gather information about the individuals style of living by means of a questionnaire on the clients family constellation which includes parents, siblings and others living in the home, life tasks, and early recollections. The counsellor also uses early recollections as an assessment procedure. Early recollections (ER) are defined as stories of events that a person says occurred before they were 10 years of age. ERs are specific incidents that clients recall, along with the feelings and thoughts that accompanies these childhood incidents, get a better understanding of the client. The aim is provide a point of departure for the therapeutic venture. ERs are particularly useful as a functional assessment device because they indicated what clients do and how they think in both adaptive and maladaptive ways. Lifestyle assessment which involves learning to understand the goals and motivations of the client.
Clients experience in Therapy – Generally people fail to change because they do not recognize the errors in their thinking or the purposes of their behaviours, do not know what to do differently, and are fearful of leaving old patterns for new and unpredictable outcomes. In therapy clients explore what Adlerians call private logic, the concepts about self, others and life that constitutes the philosophy on which an individuals lifestyle is based. After a lifestyle assessment is completed these basic mistakes are identified:
- He has convinced himself that nobody could really care about him
- He rejects people before they have a chance to reject him
- He is harshly critical of himself, expecting perfection
- He has expectations that things will rarely work out well
- He burdens himself with guilt because he is convinced he is letting everyone down
In therapy a man will learn how to challenge the structure of his private logic. In his case the syllogism goes as follows:
- I am basically unloveable
- The world is filled with people who are likely to be rejecting
- Therefore I must keep to myself so I wont be hurt
This person holds onto several basic mistakes and his private logic offers a psychological focus for treatment. First we think, then we feel, then we act. Therapists will offer the client encouragement so that change is possible.
Relationship between therapist and client - Adlerians consider a good client-therapist relationship to be one between equals that is based on cooperation, mutual trust, respect, confidence, collaboration and alignment of goals. They place special value on the counsellors modelling of communication and acting in good faith. Adlerian therapists strive to establish and maintain an egalitarian therapeutic alliance and a person to person relationship with their clients, which is facilitated by empathy and support. Developing a contract is not a requirement of Adlerian therapy but a contract can bring a tight focus to therapy.
Appication Therapeutic Techniques and Procedures:
1. Establish the proper therapeutic relationship
2. Explore the psychological dynamics operating in the client
3. Encouraging the development of self-understanding
4. Help the client make new choices
Dreikurs – Adlerian Brief Therapy (ABT) way of working is discussed in the following sections.
1. Establish the relationship – based on a sense of interest that grows into caring, involvement and friendship. Must deal with personal issues the client recognizes as significant and is willing to explore and change. Adlerian therapists focus on making person to person contact the clients rather than starting with the problem. A positive relationship is created by listening, responding, demonstrating respect for the clients capacity to understand purpose and seek change and exhibiting hope and caring. They lack faith in their ability to cope with the tasks of life and they often feel discouraged. Adlerians pay more attention to the subjective experiences of the client than they do to using techniques. They provide structure and assist clients in defining personal goals, conduct psychological assessments, and offer interpretations message of the client; they want to access the core patterns in the clients life.
2. Assessing the Individuals Psychological Dynamics – 2 interview forms – subjective interview and objective interview. In subjective interview the counsellor helps the client tell his life story as completely as possible. This process is facilitated by a generous use of empathic listening and responding. Must follow from a sense of wonder, fascination and interest. Throughout the interview, Adlerian counsellors are listening for clues to the purposive aspects of the clients coping and approaches to life. An initial assessment of the purpose that symptoms, actions or difficulties serve in a persons life can be gained from Dreikurs, how would your life be different, what would you being doing differently. The objective interview seeks to discover information about a) how problems in the clients life began, b) any precipitating events, c) a medical history, d) social history, e) reasons the client chose therapy at this time f) the persons coping with life tasks, g) a lifestyle assessment starts with an investigation of the persons family constellation or early childhood history. They operate on the assumption that it is the interpretations people develop about themselves, others, the world and ilfe that govern what they do.
The family constellation – Adler considered the family of origin as having a central impact on an individuals personality. Adler suggested that it was through the family constellation that each person forms his or hers unique view of self, others and life. Factors such as cultural and familial values, gender role expectations and the nature of interpersonal relationships are all influenced by a childs observation. Including the clients evaluation of conditions that prevailed in the family when the person was a young child, birth order, parental relationship and family values, and extended family and culture. Questions that may be explored:
- Who was the favorite child
- What was your fathers relationship with the children
Early recollections – another assessment procedure used by Adlerians is to ask the client to provide his or her earliest memories, including the age of the person with recollections. A series of small mysteries that can be woven together into a tapestry that leads to an understanding of how we view ourselves, how we see the world, what our life goals are, what motivates us, what we value and believe in and what we anticipate for our future. Early memories cast light on the story of our life because they represent meraphors for our current views. We tend to only remember only 6 – 12 memories in childhood. What they tell us about how we see ourselves, others and life in the present, it is possible to get a clear sense of our mistaken notions, present attitudes, social interests and possible future behaviour. To tap such recollections the counsellor might proceed as follows, ‘ I would like to hear about your early memories. Think back to when you were very young, as early as you can remember, tell me something that happened one time.’ Adlerian therapists use early recollections as a projective technique and to a) assess the clients convictions about self, other, life and ethics, b) assess the clients stance in relation to the counselling session and the counselling relationship, c) verify the clients coping patterns, d) assess individuals strengths, assets and interfering ideans. Adlerians may consider questions like:
- What part does the client take in the memory? Is the client an observer or a participant?
- Who else is in the memory? What position do others take in relation to the client?
Integration and Summary – Different summaries are prepared for different clients, but common ones are a narrative summary of the persons subjective experience and life story; a summary of family constellation and developmental data; a summary of early recollections, personal strengths or assets and interfering ideas; and a summary of coping strategies.
3. Encourage Self-Understanding and Insight – Adlerian therapists interpret the findings of the assessment as an avenue for promoting self-understanding and insight. Self-understanding is only possible when hidden purposes and goals of behaviour are made conscious. Insight without action is not enough, it’s a means to an end and not an end in itself. People can make rapid and significant changes without much insight. Interpretation deals with clients underlying motives for behaving the way they do in the here and now. Adlerian disclosures and interpretations are concerned with creating awareness of ones direction in life, ones goals and purposes, one private logic and how it works and ones current behaviour. Tentatively in the form of open-ended questions that can be explored in the sessions. Through this process both counsellor and client eventually come to understanding the clients motivations, the ways in which these motivations are now contributing to the maintenance of the problem and what the client can do to correct the situations.
4. Reorientation and Reeducation – The final stage of therapeutic process is the action-oriented phase known as reorientation and reeducation: putting insights into practice. Helping clients discover a new and more functional perspective. Client can choose to adopt a new style of life based on the insights they gained in the earlier phases of therapy. The useful side involves a sense of belonging and being valued, having an interest in others, and their welfare courage, the acceptance of imperfection, confidence, a sense of humor, a willingness to contribute, and an outgoing friendliness. The useless side of life is characterised by self-absorpotion, withdrawal from life tasks, self-protection, acts against one fellow human beings. Reorientation entails moving from insight to action; it involves shifting rules of interaction, process and motivation. These shifts are facilitated through changes in awareness which often occurs during the therapy sessions and which are transformed into action outside of the therapy office.
The encouragement process – encouragement literally means to build courage. Encouragement is process of increasing the courage needed for a person to face difficulties in life. Therapists helps clients focus on their resources and strengths and to have faith that they can make life changes, even though life can be difficult. Adlerians believe discouragement is the basic condition that prevents people from functioning and they see encouragement as the antidote. Therapist install faith in clients that they have the ability to make life changes. During reorientation, encouragement comes when new possibilities are generated and when clients are acknowledged and affirmed for taking positive steps to change their lives for the better.
Change and the search for new possibilities – during the reorientation phase of counselling, client makes decisions and modify their goals. Clients are asked to catch themselves in process of repeating old patterns that have led to ineffective behaviour. Commitment is essential part of reorientation. In this way, clients translate their new insights into concrete actions. This action-oriented phase is a time for solving problems and making decisions. The counsellor and the client consider possible alternatives and their consequences, evaluate how these alternative will meet the clients goals, and decide on a specific course of action.
Making a difference – That difference may be manifested by a change in behaviour or attitude or perceptions. Alderians use many different techniques to promote change, some of which have become common interventions in other therapeutic models. Metta mediation, task setting and commitment, giving homework and terminating and summarising have all been used. Contemporary Adlerian practitioners are diverse in their styles of counselling and they can creatively employ a wide range of other techniques as long as these methods are philosophically consistent with the basic theoretical premises of Adlerian psychology. All therapy is a cooperative effort, and making a different depends on the therapists ability to win the clients cooperation. Uses the push button technique, with clients who know they are depressed but feel that the depression controls them and that nothing can be done. Typically clients are asked to re-create an unpleasant memory which is then followed by recalling a pleasant memory. The push-button technique recognises that control is a major theme in depression and this intervention is designed to help the client regain a sense of control over the negative feelings that seem overwhelming.
Areas of Application – Adler anticipated the future direction of the helping professions by calling upon therapists to become social activists and by addressing the prevention and remediation of social conditions that were contrary to social interest and result in human problems. It is applicable to such varied spheres of life as child guidance, parent-child counselling, couples counselling, family counselling and therapy, group counselling and therapy, individual counselling with children, adolescents and adults, cultural conflicts; correctional and rehabilitation counselling and mental health institutions.
Application to Family counselling – With its emphasis on the family constellation, holism, and the freedom of the therapist to improvise, Adlers approach contributed to the foundation of the family therapy perspective. The family atmosphere is the climate characterising the relationship between the parents and their attitudes toward life, gender roles, decision making, competition, cooperation, dealing with conflict, responsibility and so forth. The therapeutic process seeks to increase awareness of the interaction of the individuals within the family system.
Application to Group Counselling – The rationale for Adlerian group counselling is based on the premise that our problems are mainly of a social nature. The group provides the social context in which members can develop a sense of belonging, social connectedness and community. The process of developing group cohesion parallels social interest and community feeling, which are primary goals of Adlerian therapy. Through the mutual sharing of these early recollections, members develop a sense of connection with one another, and group cohesion is increased. To challenge self-limiting assumptions, members are encouraged to act as if they were the persons they want to be. Adlerian group counselling can be considered a brief group therapy include rapid establishment of a strong therapeutic alliance, clear problem focus and goal alignment, rapid assessment, emphasis on active and directive therapeutic interventions, a focus on strengths and abilities of clients, an optimistic view of change, a focus on both the present and the future, and an emphasis on tailoring treatment to the unique needs of clients in the most time efficient manner possible.
Adlerian Therapy from a Multicultural Perspective:
Strengths from a diversity perspective:
Although the Adlerian approach is called Individual Psychology, its focus is on the person in a social context. Clients are encouraged to define themselves within their social environments and to understand how those environments influence their lifestyle and health. The therapeutic process is grounded within a clients culture and worldview rather than attempting to fit clients into preconceived models. Arciniega and Newlon 2003 – Adlerian theory hols a great deal of promise for addressing diversity issues. Cultures that stress the welfare of the social group and emphasise the role of the family will find the basic assumptions of Adlerian psychology to be consistent with their values. Adlerian therapists tend to focus on cooperation and socially oriented values as opposed to competitive and individualistic values. This makes the Adlerian approach well suited for our increasingly multicultural and pluralistic society. Adlerian therapy is easily adaptable to cultural values that emphasise community. Adlerian practitioners are not wedded to any particular set of procedures and may apply a range of cognitive and action-oriented techniques to helping clients explore their practical problems in a cultural context. It should be noted that Adlerians investigate culture in much the same way that they approach birth order and family atmosphere. Adlerians find in different cultures opportunities for viewing the self, others and the world in multidimensional ways.
Shortcomings from a Diversity Perspective:
Western People – for people brought up in extended family contexts, som of these ideas may be elss relevant or at least may need to be reconfigured. Clients from those cultures who are not interested in exploring past childhood experiences, early memories, family experiences and dreams. Instead they view it as their function to collaboratively teach people alternative methods of coping with life concerns. Individuals may believe that it is inappropriate to reveal family information.
Contributions of the Adlerian Approach:
A strength of the Adlerian approach is its flexibility and its integrative nature. Another contribution of the Adlerian approach is that it is suited to brief, time-limited therapy. According to Mosak and Di Piettro, early recollections are a significant assessment intervention in brief therapy. Bitter and Nicoll identify 5 characteristics that form the basis for an integrative framework in brief therapy; time limitations, focus, counsellor directiveness, symptoms as solutions, and the assignment of behavioural tasks. One of Adlers most important contributions was his influence on other therapy systems. Helped existential therapy, cognitive behaviour therapy, rational emotive behaviour therapy, reality therapy, solution-focused brief therapy, feminist therapy and family therapy. Carlson and Englar-Carlson assert that Adlerians face the challenge of continuing to develop their approach so that it meets the needs of contemporary global society.
Limitations and Criticisms of Adlerian Approach:
Adler had to choose between devoting his time to formalizing his theory and teaching others the basic concepts of Individual Psychology. Many of Adlers ideas are vague and general which makes it difficult to conduct research on some concepts.
