ALFRED ADLER (1870 – 1937) MEHER ANSARI Alfred Adler worked for almost a decade in close association with Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung and contributed a great deal to the development of psychodynamic approach to
therapy before he resigned as president of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society in 1911 and founded the Society for
Individual Psychology in 1912.
The basic premise of Individual Psychology is that an individual is an indivisible whole born, reared and living in specific familial, social and cultural setup.
Adler gives more importance to interpersonal relationships than the individual’s internal psychodynamics (Freud). According to Adler human behaviour is directed by conscious social relationships rather than unconscious sexual urges. For Adler human behaviour is a purposeful goal oriented activity. Depending on one’s social issues and
birth order and sibling relationships each individual develops a unique lifestyle of his own.
Alfred Adler’s life history and his family background had an impact on the formation of his theory of individual psychology and its concepts like birth order, sibling relationship and lifestyle.
Alfred was the third child in a Viennese family of six boys and two girls. He was much pampered by his mother because he was a sickly child and almost died of pneumonia. However with the arrival of a younger brother his mother could not continue with the same attention and he became more friendly with his father. He was jealous of his older brother and the strained relationship was extended well into adolescence.
Although Alfred’s childhood was unhappy he did not allow fate to shape his future. In early years his performance at school was so poor that his teacher said, at best Alfred could become a shoemaker. But, little Alfred had other plans. With determination and hard work he topped the class and went on to study medicine and finally specialized in neurology and psychiatry.
Adler devoted his life to the application of principles of Individual Psychology for the benefit of society at large, especially for child rearing practices, education of children and removal of
ethnic prejudices that resulted in conflicts.
He wrote and spoke in non-technical simple language so as to reach the common people. He pioneered training programs for parents, teachers, doctors and other professionals and erected 32 child guidance clinics. He maintained a busy program of lectures and workshops, ignoring all medical advice for rest, till he died of heart attack at the age of 67.
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