Alfred Adler and individual psychology in the new millennium: Strategies, principles and operational models underlying the thought of the founder of Individual Psychology

By Stefano Calicchio

Who was Alfred Adler and why were his studies fundamental to depth psychology? How did the Individual Psychology he theorised change the history of human thought forever? What was Adler's impact on the world?
This book is a journey into the legacy of Adlerian theory and depth psychology. It explores the significance of individual psychology in past and present society. 
The journey begins with Adler's life and the role he played in the psychoanalytic movement, and continues with the operating principles of Adlerian psychological theory. We will discover Adler's impact and importance in the development of psychodynamics and the working principles of Adlerian theory through key concepts such as feelings of inferiority, neurosis, lifestyle and the development of social feeling.
The book will also highlight the practical implications of Adlerian theories in today's society, from pedagogy to sociology and general culture. Finally, it will proceed on a path of discovery towards the organisations and institutions that have taken up the Adlerian legacy, operating all over the world and spreading the principles of individual psychology.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stefano Calicchio
• Release date: Feb 20, 2021
• ISBN: 9791220266598

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INTRODUCTION

Alfred Adler is a key figure not only for Individual Psychology (of which he is the founding father), but for all depth psychology. His message, bequeathed to posterity, is still as relevant today as ever.

This assumption underlies the work that will be carried out and developed in this book. On the one hand it aims to clearly define the principles outlined by Adler and the mechanisms of analysis and functioning of Individual Psychology. On the other hand, the aim is to rediscover his legacy, both from a theoretical and a pragmatic/clinical point of view.

On the other hand, the Adlerian orientation has in its DNA many of the methods that are nowadays taken for granted in scientific research: from the multidisciplinary and multi-causal approach to the recognition and study of man in his totality and as an element capable of acting within a wider social system.

In order to fulfil these basic aims, specific questions must be asked: it is not simply a matter of outlining the conception and development of the ideas at the basis of Individual Psychology. Rather, it is necessary to understand first of all why they developed (and in what context), and then what impact they have had not only in the specific field of psychology, but also in today's inescapably related fields such as sociology, pedagogy and more generally the social sciences.

It is starting from these bases that it becomes possible to recognise (and therefore enhance) the vast theoretical and practical legacy left to us by Alfred Adler, thus also rediscovering its operational validity in the clinical field. In order to understand the topicality of Adler's legacy, it is not enough to recognise the extent to which his theorisations have entered the common language (just think of the daily use of terms such as lifestyle and sense of inferiority).

Moreover, the relevance of Adlerian psychology's hypotheses of psychic functioning can easily be seen even today, not only in the identification of the problems underlying neurosis and individual maladaptive functioning mechanisms.

Adler's formula for personal growth, both of the individual and of society as a whole (explored in detail in the third part of the book), is still extraordinarily topical, as are the problems that need to be solved in order to understand in depth the approach to existence defined in The Meaning of Life [¹] . From love, from the sense of friendship and from the need to be of help to others (through one's work) derives the possibility of developing a society that bases its functioning on social feeling, rather than on the instinct of predominance and the will to power.

In the following pages we will therefore develop these lines of investigation, both by exploring the theoretical and practical foundations of Adlerian psychology, and by identifying its direct inheritance (through the subsequent work of authors and researchers in the field) and its indirect inheritance (by undertaking an extensive research of the Institutes and Organisations that carry on the Adlerian approach today). In order to achieve these objectives, we will review the life of Alfred Adler, the principles of Individual Psychology and the impact of Adlerian theories in psychology, while the last part of this book is the subject of an extensive research aimed at gathering information and creating a statistical database of Adlerian organisations currently operating throughout the world (subdivided and organised on a geographical basis).

THE LIFE OF ALFRED ADLER AND HIS ROLE IN THE PSYCHOANALYTIC MOVEMENT

Rediscovering Alfred Adler: the biographical evidence of childhood

This book is dedicated to the human family, in the hope that its members can learn from its pages to better understand themselves [²] .

Alfred Adler

The rediscovery of the value of Adler's theses can only start from the history of his biography and from the implications that the events of life had on his theoretical and practical formulations. In fact, Adler himself emphasised the importance of early life experiences as a fundamental element for the development of one's own dynamic style, a principle that will then represent for each individual the prerequisite to overcome the natural condition of inadequacy, resulting from unfavourable physical and cognitive confrontations with adults in general and with the still unexplored environment around him [³] .

Alfred Adler came into the world in Penzing (near Vienna) on 7th February 1870, to a Jewish family of Hungarian origin. He was born to Leopold Adler and Pauline Beer Adler (husband of Raissa Timofeyewna Adler, father of Dr. Valentine Dina Adler-Sas; Dr. Alexandra Adler; Kurt Alfred Adler and Cornelia Nelly Sternberg [⁴] ). He was the second son among seven (brother of Sigmund Adler; Hermine Ratz; Rudolf Adler; Irma Fried; Dr. Phil. Max Adler; and Richard Adler): a detail that was highlighted by the psychoanalyst himself when he analysed the impact on the psyche of birth order within the family, pointing out that 'often second-borns become ambitious people, since from childhood they try to match children older than themselves' [⁵] .

The historical context was that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was undergoing profound change. Only a few years earlier (in 1867) Franz Joseph signed the Ausgleich, a historic compromise between the Habsburg Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary, while less than fifteen years later Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo (in 1914) and the First World War began.

These historical references help to contextualise the major movements of change that characterised the society in which Adler was born and grew up.

The parents of the future founder of individual psychology came from Burgenland; today it is a small Austrian state bordering Hungary, but in those days it was a Hungarian territory bordering Austria. In fact, the area served as a connecting area between the two states before their territorial union.

The father moved to Austria with his family before Alfred's birth and tried to set up his own business there; he was a cereal merchant, while the mother was a housewife and looked after the children. The father was a reassuring figure, optimistic and present in the family. In addition, he seemed to have a particularly indulgent attitude towards his son, so much so that 'he would take him for long walks and give him practical advice on life' (Bosetto, 2015 p. 1).

Alfred Adler thus seems to have inherited from his father an important background in the interpretation of the meaning of life, as well as the ability to live his time to the fullest; an aptitude that was universally recognised in his lifetime and in retrospect.

His family situation was at first slightly better than that originally experienced by many Jewish citizens of the Austrian Empire (by virtue of a special legal characterisation recognised at regional level [⁶] ), but despite this they soon had to face a difficult economic situation and thus financial failure. As already mentioned, the father started a small business, but was never able to achieve economic success. This situation dragged on and was only relieved when Alfred's brother succeeded in ensuring a better standard of living for the whole family by becoming a skilled entrepreneur.

During his childhood, his parents had to adapt to a difficult economic situation and changed their residence several times. This also influenced young Alfred's early experiences, as he was confronted with changes in his environment, not only physically, but also socially and culturally.

Where there is a challenge there is also an opportunity and this aspect was certainly helpful in the development of the sense of friendship and social integration that will represent the red thread of all Adlerian theorising and which has its roots in this period of the future psychiatrist and psychotherapist's life.

Another aspect to be emphasised at this stage of the young Adler's life is his delicate health. Alfred suffered from rickets, a childhood disease characterised by 'an altered mineralisation of the organic matrix of cartilage and growing bone. The result is soft, saggy bones that curve under the weight of the body, associated with exaggerated protrusion of the frontal bosses, delayed closure of the fontanelles and abnormalities in dentition' [⁷] .

Being affected by rickets in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries meant suffering severe limitations in the ability to move and exercise. This was in stark contrast to the need and desire of every child to run and play in the open air. This was despite the fact that the childhood environment of reference was the countryside, given that the Adler family lived in those years in a context that could be defined as peasant. The environment was therefore populated by open spaces and farm animals, such as chickens, cows, goats and horses. An aspect that cannot but be carefully considered in the author's later development and in his very early vocation for the study of medicine [⁸] .

On the other hand, the importance of his youthful experiences for Alfred Adler were also underlined during the psychoanalyst's own self-analysis process, which led to the anonymous publication of a text entitled 'From the experiences of individual psychology concerning sleep disorders (original title: Aus den individualpsychologischen Ergebnissen bezüglich Schlafstörungen)' . [⁹]

In the text, the founder of individual psychology relates