Contents
Adlerian psychotherapy is an example of growth and development-oriented psychotherapy. Adlerians practice group therapy, psychodrama, marital and family therapy.
The goal of therapy is to correct dangerous delusions in the hypothetical world of the individual and to increase the expression of social interest.
Two main areas of study lead to understanding the basic assumptions (lifestyle):
- Family structure
- Memories of early childhood.
The purpose of memory is to facilitate adaptation to the tasks of life. Therefore, a careful study of the picture of childhood reveals how a person has reconstructed his past so that it supports his present.
The composition and dynamics of the family show how a particular person found a niche in the ecological family system, which of the family members served him as a role model, what behavior was reinforced by the environment, and in what directions this person began to prepare for future adaptive changes as a child. All behavior, including symptoms, is considered purpose-adaptive.
Based on this material, the therapist tries to understand the general plan of a person’s life and in particular to find out at what stage of implementation this plan leads to maladaptive behavior. Once the therapist has understood these factors and their influence, he is ready to communicate his understanding to the patient. The process of evaluation goes beyond this and continues throughout the course of therapy and requires the therapist to be sensitive to all aspects of the patient’s behavior, both verbal and non-verbal.
«Private logic» is the individual’s own assumptions, which are usually not directly recognized. Thoughts, emotions, interests, motives and impulses are consciously perceived, which a person explains through various rationalizations or generally denies or ignores. The therapist, on the other hand, tries to find out hidden motives, defensive tendencies, and to discover attempts to maintain fictional lifestyle values.
Hidden motives
Motives are interpreted in terms of the ultimate goal. The purpose of the symptom may be:
- protection from the collapse of personal plans,
- neutralization of the expected antagonism of others,
- achieving an imaginary victory,
- any other defense of self-respect.
The purpose of strong emotion is to facilitate action, sometimes against better judgment.
Change direction
- The main changes are taking place in three directions:
- advancement in solving complex life problems,
- rejection of their decision
- search for workarounds.
Self-defeating and unrealistic assumptions
All the major errors found in lifestyle can be understood as fallacies of common sense.
They include:
- wrong focus
- prejudice,
- limited mental categories,
- separation of thought from reality
- commitment to unusual ideas,
- unfounded premise,
- unrealistic expectations and thoughts,
- inaccurate assessment of events.
Way of interpretation
Insight, even if it does not always lead to change, provides information about what needs to be changed.
Some interpretations are readily accepted by the individual because they provide a welcome clarification of what is happening to him and a satisfying understanding of himself. Other interpretations are resisted because they expose the individual to aspects of the self that threaten self-esteem or a sense of self-control.
Real insight causes affect. Revealing and acknowledging one’s true intentions often makes it impossible for a person to continue feeling like a victim or claiming special privileges. Recognizing one’s mistaken assumptions helps a person to begin to build his life right and develop more effective coping strategies.
The therapist-patient relationship
Therapy is a dialogue that requires cooperation. A fulfilling therapist-patient relationship involves frank discussion of problems with the patient, attentive to interpretation and open to self-exploration. The first task of the therapist is to establish meaningful cooperation with the patient. The therapist achieves this by avoiding negative statements about the patient’s behavior, using statements that indicate understanding and respect for the patient’s feelings.
Hyphenation
The patient brings into the therapeutic situation his own characteristic ways of solving problems and establishing relationships, as well as distorted assumptions and unconscious expectations. They are seen as lifestyle phenomena and interpreted as such, especially where they impede the learning of new, better adaptive behaviors.
Adlerians view transference as an artificial product of therapy and an unspoken agreement between patient and therapist that allows the former to act childishly. Its intentional encouragement in most cases leads to an unjustified lengthening of the therapy period.
Resistance
Dealing with resistance requires the therapist to be constantly aware of the patient’s current state of mind and to be able to monitor his fluctuations between openness and defensiveness.
The four main reasons for resistance are:
- Failure of therapist and patient to agree on goals. If the patient does not go to the market to buy what the therapist puts up for sale, the purchase will not take place.
- The manifestation by the patient of a devaluing trend (devaluation of what others offer) as the main way to maintain their positive self-esteem.
- The patient’s natural resistance to any intervention that threatens to invalidate his personal interpretations («constructs»).
- A perceptual attitude that is firmly rooted in some people, rigidly filtering information that does not correspond to it.
Facilitate Change
Change is made possible by the patient’s creative power, sufficient as a result of increased understanding.
The desired direction of change is towards increasing awareness of previously unrecognized motives and behavior leading to failure, a growing sense of one’s own competence, a greater ability to understand others and interact effectively with them, realistic self-determination and acceptance of oneself, replacement of inadequate egoistic values with pro-social ones (social interest), recognition their real needs instead of fictitious goals of personal superiority and active, bold inclusion in solving life problems.
Awareness of your erroneous hypothetical world and its consequences is only the first step towards change. It is equally important to overcome the reluctance to face the realities of life.
The therapist acts as a consultant, adviser, helper, and encourager to the patient in relation to these new behaviors. The therapist’s unconditional support for the patient’s courageous advancement gives the latter a sense of security even in the face of difficulties (the therapist demonstrates his faith in the patient).
Therapeutic process
Learning a new behavior takes time. As the patient progresses, he eventually learns to understand symptoms, emotions, behaviors, and dreams, gaining more and more knowledge about himself. At this time, the intervals between therapy sessions lengthen, heralding the patient’s readiness to complete therapy. The end of treatment does not mean the end of personal growth. During therapy, the patient has mastered the method of self-understanding and continues to use it. Years after the end of therapy, the patient may still discover new insights and continue the process of personal growth.