Adlerian Therapy: Encouragement

“Counseling’s focus on development, prevention, wellness, and treatment makes it attractive to those seeking healthy life-stage transitions and productive lives” (pearson). In the early 1900’s, there was a movement within the counseling profession that centered on promoting the prevention and the objects that provided purpose in a person’s life. The idea was to help individuals avoid problems and “focus on wellness, development, mindfulness, meaningfulness, and remediation of mental disorders” (pearson). This was the beginning of one of the three philosophies that comprises the key philosophies of counseling.

This paper will carry out a comparative analysis of the two most important psychological therapies, the Adlerian Therapy and the Gestalt Therapy.

It is my goal to become a school counselor in a local high school. As a school counselor, it is also important to try and understand the different experiences that children go through in order to get through to them. After studying the different counseling theories, I have discovered that each theory is valid and there are ideas and techniques that I would use out of each of them. However, there are some theories more than others that I would use to guide me daily as a school counselor. Modern day counseling is equipped with a wide variety of therapies, techniques and approaches. The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast three approaches of therapy. Also in this essay the views of the person and the Therapeutic process will be

Following this study Watkins (1992) analyzed the research activity with Adlerian theory appearing in the Journal of Individual Psychology during the years 1982 to 1990. 103 studies appeared during this nine-year period. This was a significant increase over the previous 12 years that he had reported on earlier (Watkins, 1983). Although he did not attempt to evaluate the quality of the studies reported, Watkins (1992) does conclude by stating that the research into Adler's theory is still on the increase and suggests it is a vital theory that lends itself to empirical inquiry. Since 1990, the reported research has continued to grow with the Journal of Individual Psychology publishing additional studies on marriage, children, substance abuse, class room management, behavioral problems in children and youth, and offenders. A number of other professional journals have included research articles on Adlerian theory as well.

Adlerian theory and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) may be thought to have many similarities. This may be because CBT is rooted in Adlerian theory (Sperry, 2017). This paper discusses Adlerian theory, then Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Both of these sections include the theoretical basis for, and interventions or techniques used, within each approach. Also discussed are key points specific to counseling in schools pertaining to, and skills necessary for counselors utilizing, each approach. This paper then explains the similarities and differences between Adlerian theory and cognitive behavioral therapy.

Family therapy is a technique that has many alternative approaches to every aspect of treatment which Nichols (2014), states may present a challenge when describing a basic technique. The two models of family therapy in which I feel that I would be most effective and comfortable with would be, experiential family therapy and solution-focused brief therapy. I feel most comfortable with these models because, I adapt to the role of the therapist of both therapies naturally. According to Nichols (2014), when families seek therapy they are stuck in a life-cycle transition, sometimes they are obvious and sometimes they are not obvious. I’ve found that during the first session an excellent question is to ask the client why now so that they can

Adlerian, Cognitive Behavioral, and Solution Focused Brief Therapy are three major theories that are used today. All three theories have things that make them similar as well as different.

This paper will discuss developing beliefs and identity regarding marriage and family therapy. Over one’s life many beliefs are learned and become apart of who they are. These beliefs may be religious or just what they fell are right and wrong. These are the characteristics that will help or hinder them when it comes to being an effective counselor. Marriage and family therapist use psychotherapy to treat mental, emotional and interpersonal problems in the context of close relationships. Spiritual and or religious beliefs can also be incorporated into treatment. As a professional one must be aware not to impose personal beliefs into counseling.

An Adlerian approach aims to empower children who believe they have insufficient control over their circumstances. Adler believed that people are socially embedded, goal-oriented, creative beings that develop social interest through interactions (Kottman,2001 ). A child's private logic reveals a subjective view of self, others, and the world. Additionally, it encompasses the basic convictions that motivate the child to behave in certain ways and because they do not yet possess abstract thought, they may rely on faulty or mistaken convictions (Evans, 2011).

The goal of each session is to manage anxiety and increase the client’s level of differentiation, incorporating “I-statements” (Goldenberg, Goldenberg, 2013, p. 227). The evaluation interview begins with a telephone call between a combination of family members (Goldenberg, Goldenberg, 2013, p. 223). A therapist is to remain neutral and avoid being triangled into family issues. Sessions focus on symptoms in relation to the presenting problem (Goldenberg, Goldenberg, 2013, p. 223). The counselor gages each member’s perspective of the issue, while remaining aware of patterns of emotional functioning (Goldenberg, Goldenberg, 2013, p. 223). Sessions conclude with intentions to understand third-generation family systems. This part of the technique

For this client system assessment, I have chosen a client I engaged with while at work, my client’s name is Keith. Keith is 34 years old and has had many unfortunate circumstances surrounding his life, beginning with his birth. Keith’s family system consists of himself, his mother and two step siblings. Keith was unfortunately the product of a rape, witnessed repeated domestic abuse situations with his mother’s boyfriends and husbands, was abused himself and to this day, Keith continues to suffer in all domains: emotionally, mentally and physically. I will assess Keith’s family system as well as Keith as an individual utilizing Erikson’s Psychological Stages of Development, Bowman’s Family System Theory and Marcia’s Identity Status Model.

I feel that our perception of the past influences the way we act in the present. However, I do think that it should be taken into account that I, nor my client, will be able to change the past. Early experiences play a significant role in who we are but do not determine us as a whole. I believe Adler’s idea of a subjective reality, individual to each person, is similar to how people operate. People create and interpret their own experience, which means that a sense of reality is individual to each person. It is my goal as a counselor to do my best to try and understand each of my client’s realities and cater to them that would seem fit, since we are not all molded the same in our thought processes. People have the capacity to interpret, influence and create events. In order to understand people we must first understand the systems of which they are part. Adler’s life style assessment is holistic and systemic. In any beginning counseling relationship, I would try and gather as much information as I can about their attitudes and come to find an understanding of the lives that they live through their own personal perspective. This subjective reality is described as phenomenological and includes the individual’s perceptions, thoughts, feelings, values,

Understand, interpret, direct. This statement is an oversimplification of sorts, but defines the essence of Adlerian psychotherapy. From this minimal overview of Adlerian theory, we can begin to elaborate and explore the intricacies of individual psychology. Adlerians are concerned with understanding the unique and private beliefs and strategies of the individual (private logic and mistaken notions) that we create in childhood, and which serve as a reference for attitudes, private views of self, others and the world, and behavior (lifestyle). Therapeutic work with clients involves short-term and intensive work to increase social interest, to encourage a greater sense of responsibility for behavior, and to support behavioral change.

The main difference between the Adlerian approach and the Psychoanalytic approach deals with the stance the therapist takes. In the Psychoanalytic approach , the therapist sits back and gives the client the right to express himself without any resistance. Since transference is a big issue with this approach, and the client can develop projections toward the therapist(Corey, 2013, pg. 481), so it is important for the therapist to remain neutral. Transference interpretation helps our clients by enabling them to see broad patterns of fantasies, interactions and object relations that they had never put together before(Howes, 2010). This approach goes against the philosophy of counseling because the therapist take a back seat, while the client takes the wheel and counseling should be more about an integrative approach. On the other hand the Psychoanalytic approach is based on mutual respect and the importance of goals. Focus is on identifying, exploring and disclosing mistaken goals and faulty assumptions within the persons lifestyle(Corey, 2013, pg. 481), and this approach shows the importance of a therapist who uses more guidance to identify those objectives.

Adlerian theory, also referred to as individual psychology, stresses the need to understand individuals within their social context (Mosak & Maniacci, 2014). Interestingly, Alfred Adler gave his theoretical framework the name, Individual Psychology, which derives from the Latin term individuum. The meaning of individuum translates to “indivisible” and represents the holistic foundation of Adlerian theory (Mosak & Maniacci, 2014). Adlerians assume that every behavior has a purpose, causing them to focus on clients’ “style of life”, or consistent themes that occur throughout their life. Mosak and Maniacci (2014) describe Adler’s “style of life” as, “bias apperceptions about self, others, and the world from a self-consistent cognitive and attitudinal set which organizes and directs movement toward the goal” (p. 12). Accordingly, Adlerian concepts revolve around achieving the main tasks of life through cooperation rather than competition, in work, friendship, love, self-task, and spiritual task (Mosak & Maniacci, 2014). Furthermore, this theory focuses on influences that might encourage the development of exaggerated inferiority, and how these feelings can push people to better themselves in guiding the self-ideal and altering the way they strive toward success, such as through choices and level of responsibility.