AT A GLANCE

ALFRED ADLER [ 1870-1937 ]
Austrian psychologist and psychiatrist, Alfred Adler, was the founder of ‘Individual Psychology’, the most widely accepted technique next to psychoanalysis, founded by Sigmund Freud. He graduated in Medicine from Vienna, in 1895. In his analysis of individual development, Adler stressed the sense of inferiority rather than sexual drive, as the motivating force in human beings. Through a widespread misunderstanding, Adler’s theory of Neurosis has been taken to be the Adlerian Psychology of Normality.

He started the new school of thought in psychology ‘Individual Psychology’, after deviating from Sigmund Freud’s theory of Sexuality. Adler’s purpose was to convince the neurotic about the desirability of normal state of individual and to help him to see clearly the modalities of his self-centeredness and possible will to power. Adler also wanted to help unify the unique psyche by means of social tasks and interpersonal relationships.According to Adler, the function of the psychologist is to induce the patient whose fundamental ‘Style of Life’ cannot be changed after early childhood, to avoid conflicts with society.