![]() ![]() Eventually Adler’s theories became so different from psychoanalysis as to precipitate an acrimonious parting of the ways, with Freud accusing him of heresy and imposing the penalty of excommunication. As he once remarked to Freud, “Do you think it gives me such great pleasure to stand in your shadow my whole life long?” (Freud, 1914/1967, p. Like Jung, however, Adler insisted on the freedom to pursue his own ideas. He remained active in psychoanalytic circles for some 10 years, and became the first president of the Viennese Psychoanalytic Society in 1910. His first publication, which appeared in 1898, stressed the pathogenic working conditions of independent tailors and the need of the poor for socialized medicine.Īdler first met Freud in 1902 under circumstances that are shrouded in legend (Ellenberger, 1970, The Adlers were to have four children (three daughters and a son), two of whom became individual psychologists. In 1897 he married Raissa Epstein, an ardent socialist and independent thinker whom he met at a political convention. Adler received his medical degree in 1895, though not with outstanding marks, and soon thereafter began private practice. Ironically, he never attended any of the lectures on hysteria given there by a relatively unknown psychologist, Sigmund Freud. Alfred never developed strong ties to his Jewish heritage, perhaps because his childhood was spent in liberal and heterogeneous surroundings, and he converted to Protestantism in 1904.Īdler studied medicine at the University of Vienna. 576) who grew up in the shadow of a gifted and successful older brother, and his family included an envious younger brother and three other siblings. Adler was a second-born (Ellenberger, 1970, p. Like Freud and Jung, Adler rose from lower middle- class origins to world fame but unlike his illustrious counterparts, he remained emotionally attached to the lower classes and keenly concerned with their problems. His father was a Jewish grain merchant with a cheerful disposition and a particular fondness for Alfred, and his mother has been described as gloomy, rejecting, and self-sacrificing. To show that successful psychotherapy can be accomplished more easily and quickly than Freud believed.Īlfred Adler was born on February 7, 1870, in Rudolfsheim, a suburb of Vienna. To correct Freud’s belief that mental illness usually has sexual causes by showing that psychopathology most often occurs when pathogenic parenting (notably pampering and neglect) causes the child to develop an inferiority complex, abandon the desire to cooperate, and try to achieve superiority in selfish ways that hurt rather than help other people. To emphasize that personality development is strongly influenced by the child’s relationship with his/her parents and birth order. To argue that personality is an indivisible unity: Conscious and unconscious always work together, and personality is never torn by conflicting wishes and goals that set one part against another part. To reject Freud’s emphasis on the depths of personality by showing that the unconscious is relatively unimportant, and that personality is determined by our consciously chosen goals and methods of achieving them (style of life). To show that striving for superiority over our formidable environment (striving for self- perfection) is the most important human motive. To emphasize the social aspects of personality: We must cooperate with others in order to survive, and everyone has an inborn tendency to do so (social interest). To argue that instincts and heredity aren’t important causes of human behavior. To devise a theory of personality that can easily be understood and used because it is less metaphysical and complicated than Freud’s or Jung’s. Today Freud is clearly recognized as the originator of psychoanalysis, whereas Adler’s significant ideas have been widely subsumed, without credit, into the theories of other psychologists. ![]() 184–193.)Īlthough Freud’s pungent attacks were excessive, he better understood the way to lasting fame. Even Jung, a man known for his tolerance of all races and peoples, described Adler’s group as an “insolent gang” of “impudent puppies.” (See Ellenberger, 1970, pp. Psychoanalysts charged Adler with plagiarism, and were accused in turn of retaining his ideas while expunging his name from their writings. Longstanding friendships broke up, wives of the combatants stopped speaking to each other, and members of opposing factions refused to sit near each other at dinner parties. An irate Freud “forced the whole Adler gang” to resign from psychoanalytic circles, and forbade his followers to attend any of Adler’s conferences. Freud’s colleague Alfred Adler were irreconcilably different from those of psychoanalysis. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |