- Person
- Alfred Adler
- Lived
- 1870–1937
- Field
- Individual psychology
- From
- Austrian
The story
Alfred Adler believed that prevention was as important as treatment. Psychological problems in adults, he argued, often grow from childhood experiences of feeling unequal, unwanted or overpowered. The best way to protect children from later difficulties, such as what he called the neurotic character, was to help each child be and feel an equal part of the family.
He saw both pampering and neglect as harmful. A child who does not feel equal and is simply acted upon, whether spoiled or ignored, is likely to develop feelings of inferiority or superiority and to adopt unhealthy strategies to cope. Adlerian prevention therefore called for a cultural shift in families and communities to eliminate pampering and neglect, and especially to end corporal punishment. Instead, children should be allowed to use their own power through reasoned decisions while cooperating with others.
Adler argued that responsibility for a child's development does not rest only with mothers and fathers but with teachers and society more broadly. Teachers, nurses and social workers therefore needed training in parent education to support families in fostering a democratic character. He put this into practice in Vienna after the First World War, where his child guidance clinics were linked to state schools so that teachers could consult on children's difficulties, parents took part in the consultations, and new parent associations asked him to give regular lectures.
Adler applied the same principle of equality to men and women. He was among the first in psychology to argue in favour of feminism and of women as analysts, making the case that power dynamics between the sexes, and the way feelings of superiority and inferiority become tied to masculinity and femininity, are crucial to understanding human psychology.
After Adler's death, his follower Rudolf Dreikurs carried these ideas to the United States. He developed them into a practical method for understanding the purposes behind children's misbehaviour and encouraging cooperation without punishment or reward, set out in books such as Children: The Challenge. Adlerians have promoted parent education groups for decades, and Adlerian principles are used today in teacher training, classroom management and family programmes.
Why it matters
Adler's ideas about respectful, democratic parenting and an end to physical punishment influenced generations of parents and teachers and remain at the core of many parenting programmes.
About Alfred Adler
Viennese physician who broke with Freud to found individual psychology, coined the “inferiority complex” and opened the world’s first child guidance clinics.
More about Alfred Adler
- Alfred Adler showed how birth order shapes personalityAlfred Adler argued that a child's place among siblings, first, middle or youngest, influences personality, extending psychology beyond the parent-child bond.
- Alfred Adler coined the term inferiority complexAlfred Adler introduced the idea of the inferiority complex, describing how feelings of inadequacy can shape personality and how people strive to compensate.
- Alfred Adler founded the school of individual psychologyAfter leaving Freud's circle in 1911, Alfred Adler founded the Society for Individual Psychology in 1912, the first major independent school of psychotherapy.
- Alfred Adler's first book linked health to social conditionsIn 1898 Alfred Adler published a health book for tailors arguing that their illnesses must be treated in light of their social and economic conditions.
- Alfred Adler influenced Maslow, Frankl and EllisAlfred Adler's ideas shaped later giants of psychotherapy, including Abraham Maslow, Viktor Frankl, Albert Ellis and Rollo May.
- Alfred Adler linked mental health to caring for othersAlfred Adler made social interest, or Gemeinschaftsgefühl, the core of mental health: a sense of belonging and a desire to contribute to the welfare of others.
- Alfred Adler replaced the analyst's couch with two chairsAlfred Adler was one of the first psychotherapists to discard the analytic couch in favour of two chairs, so therapist and patient could sit as equals.
- Alfred Adler studied war neurosis among WWI soldiersAs an army doctor in World War I, Alfred Adler treated traumatised soldiers and lectured on war neurosis, a forerunner of what is now called PTSD.
- Alfred Adler opened Vienna's first child guidance clinicIn 1919 Alfred Adler started the first child guidance clinic in Vienna; he and his associates went on to open 28, making Vienna the first city to give schoolchildren free therapy.
Sources
- Alfred Adler Wikipedia
- Alfred Adler: To Heal and to Educate Vision
- Rudolf Dreikurs Wikipedia
Another act of tikkun olam. This is part of tikkun olam, the Jewish idea of repairing the world, and every one of us can add to it.