The therapist offers an interpretation of the client’s situation. Similarly to psychodynamic therapy, this phase seeks to understand what styles of thinking and behaviour the client may have developed, why they were developed, and whether or not they are still helpful to them. During the assessment phase, more information regarding the client's background is explored, including childhood, early memories and family relationships. This relationship has the aim of fostering collaboration to address the client's problems. During this phase, the therapist and client begin to establish the therapeutic relationship. The focus is on finding effective strategies Adlerian therapy is goal-oriented. In Adlerian therapy, the therapist and client work on overcoming feelings of inferiority and other identified obstacles. A feeling of genuine security can be found through a deep sense of belonging and embeddedness within our social context. Adler also believed that people are most at peace when they are working towards social interest, when they feel a sense of being beneficial for society as a whole. Adlerian therapy therefore emphasises the harmful potential of feelings of inferiority in comparison to others. Similarly, Adler believed that a 'misbehaving child is a discouraged child' – individuals who feel insignificant and unvalued will act out in harmful ways. Adler believed that when people feel capable, are encouraged and supported, that they will act in co-operative and healthy ways. Much of Adler's theory is based on the importance of community he believed that people were in need of and driven to find a sense of belonging and personal significance.

Adler maintained that an individual's thoughts, feelings and behaviours could only be understood within the context of their life experiences. He eventually split from Freud to develop his own theories, and founded the Society of Individual Psychotherapy in 1912.Īdler stressed the importance of the individual's social context, including dynamics and influences related to equality, parental education, family life, birth order, lifestyle choices, and wider social forces. He was once a colleague of Freud together they founded the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society. Alfred Adler was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1870.

Alfred adler therapy