Alfred Adler's Theory Of Physical Disability

Equality isn’t about being special. It’s about being ordinary.

Physical disability whether congenital or acquired during phase of life demands time as a person loses independence, social image, relationships, pre-existing roles , loss of components of his/her identity. Combating with adjustment to these loses requires strong will power and so these people use their extra sense achieved during this phase to make a way for themselves and succeed.

Livneh and Antonak (1997) define, “Psychosocial adaptation to chronic illness and disability as the final phase of an adaptation process during which the individual achieves a state of reintegration, positive striving to reach life goals, positive self-esteem and demonstrating positive attitudes toward

He is known to be responsible for the origination of Modern Psychological School Of Thought known as “Individual Psychology”, which emphasized on veracity of Human Personality. .Alfred Adler’s individual psychology, focused more on environmental and societal factors to explain behavior (Frankl, 1997) In regard with physical disability, it focuses on Superiority, Inferiority, Compensation and lifestyle.

“Striving for superiority” is fundamental of every individual’s life. In regard with physical disability, his assumption was that they strive harder to be superior when they become aware of life’s misfortune. Core idea in inferiority was “organ inferiority” which is inferiority in one region or organ due to developmental or genetic abnormality. This is debt of an organ which needs to be recovered for. Thus, they will compensate for the loss of function or abnormal or absence of organ by strengthening its weakness. These deformities were considered the principal causes of not so perfect

Schilder’s Body Image

Earlier Sir Henry Head gave the concept of “Postural Schema” of the body. However, Paul Schilder (1950), whose writings originally appeared in 1935 he elaborates the development and importance of body image understood within the structure of “Psychoanalytic Symbolism”. It is the perceived body image from spatial relationships of one’s own body by visual sensation. Distorted or disrupted body images are formed within physically disability individual’s mind. They get conscious about self-appearance since few appearances may attract sympathy and few may get disgust in response.

Logotheraphy

Dr. Viktor Emil Frankl (1905-1997), a Viennese psychiatrist and neurologist developed Logotheraphy. It is considered the "Third Viennese School of Psychotherapy" after Freud’s psychoanalysis and Adler’s individual