Abstract
In this work the outstanding personality of Alfred Adler and his prominent theory of Individual Psychology were analysed. After a brief insight into the most important events of Adler’s life, we referred to the basic principles of his theory. It is interesting to see that a great number of ideas that laid the foundation of Individual Psychology originated from Adler’s own experiences, self-analysis, and speculations about life in general. In the third section of this paper we provided one example of practical application of the theory of Individual Psychology. It is very effective in the treatment of neurosis, and the detailed explanation of how it works in this case can be found in section three. The theory of Individual Psychology has developed greatly since the times of Alfred Adler, but it is still hard to overestimate the power of those original ideas which are mentioned and discussed in this work.
Alfred Adler and The Theory of Individual Psychology
Biographical sketch
As a child Alfred Adler survived a number of painful experiences that changed his life significantly. To begin with, as soon as little Alfred was born, he aroused great jealousy in his elder brother. Alfred was the second child in the family and when his younger brother was born the boy started feeling the lack of his mother’s love and care.
Then, at the age of three his younger brother died which impressed Alfred a lot, since it was his first close encounter with death, horrible and merciless as it is.
When he was five years old, he nearly died from pneumonia himself. That’s what he wrote about that period of his life: “From that time on I recall always thinking of myself in the future as a physician. This means that I have set a goal from which I could expect an end to my childlike distress, my fear of death.” (Ansbacher, 1965, p. 199)
Apart from poor health, learning at school also presented a challenge for him. However, with the support of his father and his own hard work, he soon improved his grades and by the end of the year he received “the best student in the class” award.
After school he really became a physician, and then a psychiatrist. For some time he was an active member of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society organised by Sigmund Freud, but eventually he felt that it was not his path and he left it. Nine other colleagues followed him and a year after that they have opened their own Society for Individual Psychology.
Adler’s active social position brought him to the hospitals where he did three years of service during World War I. After the war he worked at the child-guidance clinics which were opened on the grounds of schools and offered therapy sessions for kids and their parents who suffered …