The Adlerian Oppressor

Within the helping profession, human behavior is known throughout the lenses of the theoretical orientations. The component that influences this orientation includes the unique personality of the counselor as professional and his/her way of conceptualizing the human condition (Corey, 2016). Browsing through the theories I find myself sharing common beliefs with the cognitive therapy and feminism, but my keen interest is answering the “why’s” by understanding the mental state, emotions, and behavior regarding their adaptive role. Meaning that I want to find the factors shaping the personality that we are dealing with. Additionally, I have strong beliefs that the family, society, culture, environment drive our actions and behaviors. And when

“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.

I believe counseling is a collaborative partnership between client and counselor. Furthermore, this collaborative partnership is built from trust and acceptance of both client and counselor. I hope in conjunction with clients to understand the issues and concerns so to help them tap into their wisdom, creativity, and strengths to meet their current challenges. I believe in a comprehensive perspective through which clients can better comprehend themselves in the framework that our thinking about events can lead to emotional and behavioral upset. Moreover, counselors are to provide a safe environment for clients to explore their challenges and identify ways to move differently in overcoming these challenges.

According to Adler, we must master three universal life tasks: building friendships, establishing intimacy, and contributing to society (Corey, 2005, p.99). These life tasks are so fundamental to human living that dysfunction in any one of them is often an indicator of a psychological disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). According to Stein & Edwards (1998), Adler's

On a bright and crisp morning of March 25, 2015, I interviewed Joni Roche and learned what a typical day was like for this Professional Counselor. Mrs. Roche has owned her own practice for nearly eighteen years and has truly loved every single part of it. Mrs. Roche has received a Master of the Arts degree and is a Licensed Profession Counselor and a Nationally Credited Counselor. During my interview with Mrs. Roche, I truly learned so many things from different counseling techniques, what it is like to have a private practice and the good and bad things counseling comes with that people do not necessarily speak about.

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.

Bang! You door just got broken down by German officers. They yell at you and treat you with disrespect. They accuse you as a Jew and take you to a concentration camp. Well that's what it was like during the Holocaust. Hearing things about the bloodshed history makes you not wanna be alive during that time period, but a boy named Zigmond had to deal with the compelling plans of Hitler.

Adlerian psychotherapists often ask their clients about early recollections. What are the assumptions of this technique and how does it facilitate the therapeutic process?

His opinion was that a counselor should function primarily as a teacher and model for the client. That they should have a health relationship in which both counselor and client are on equal grounds. The counselors job, according to Adler, was to learn why clients think and behave the way they do; by gathering information about the clients family and their early memories. Then the counselor should share his or her interpretation of the client and try to build a restorative relationship.

My personal statement in my application to the Masters in Counseling program began with one word: “Empowerment.” In retrospect, I should have written “Encouragement” because, in the Adlerian sense of the term, I relate well to others through my ability to encourage them to set and attain their goals, especially when that goal is valuing self. Encouragement is the foundation of my pragmatic, forward-looking, goal-oriented beliefs about the therapeutic process. More than any other theories discussed, Adlerian Therapy most closely matches my personal philosophies of counseling and life in general. Some say Adler was the grandfather of modern counseling. I would say he is the grandfather of common-sense counseling. Adlerian concepts are fundamental

Adlerian therapy can be a useful approach in the case of Stan to help his address the many issues that he faces in his life. This therapy focuses on helping Stan, to achieve success in life by examining feelings of inferiority that result in negative behaviors, but in the right setting can help motivate him to strive for greater success. Adlerian therapy will help Stan focus on the development of his individual personality and the relation to understanding and accepting of the interconnectedness of all human beings.

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,

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.

In the Adlerian approach, the family constellation is important because it looks at the family dynamics and the child’s place within the family context (Henderson & Thompson, 2011). While there are some birth order characteristics that can be helpful to understand, it is more of a generalization, and cannot specifically be applied to every person in a particular birth order (Henderson & Thompson, 2011). According to Henderson and Thompson (2011), some characteristics that can affect the child’s recognition of their role in the family include parents having a favorite child, stepparents living in the home, single-parent homes, and blended families. Therefore, counselors should understand the family dynamics, how the child fits into the family,

The Adlerian therapy is a basic goal to help clients identify and change their beliefs about self, others, life and to participate in the social world. This counseling session will be approached by using the Adlerian perspective, to proceed with helping Javier’s and Alice’s family issues. The responsibility of being Javier’s and Alice’s counselor is coming to a solution how they could understand each other morals. During the counseling session, I would apply the lifestyle questionnaire to get a better understanding of each individual point of view in their marriage. However, I would question each individual at different duration of time. Then bring the two together to discuss their differences about each question I provide them with. To emphasize with this questionnaire, it could amplify with advantages and disadvantages with Javier and Alice’s marriage. The advantage with this procedure is Javier and Alice could benefit from this exercise, in a way of helping their marriage and family. The disadvantage of this procedure is when Javier and Alice hear each other, answers about the questionnaire that was provided to them. However, this could raise other issues within the marriage.