Individual Psychology: Adlerian Therapy

Individual psychology is also known as Adlerian therapy; it was developed by Alfred Adler. Adler was in a sense like Freud, he was far ahead of his time, and thus most modern therapies have used and incorporated some of his ideas into their therapies (Corey, 2009). Adler had the notion/belief that each individual had an innate need to strive for perfection; this tendency is seen as the most important motivator that influences human behaviour (Murdock, 2013). Human beings like other species cannot live alone in isolation nor can they exist without close contact with one another. Thus individuals depend on each other to survive; they make use of each other as critical resources (they provide support to one another) (Dreikurs, 2006). Adler differed

The importance of feelings of inferiority
All individuals at some point of their lives feel inferior, usually the first encounter with this feeling is when the individual is an infant, these feelings however is overcome when the caretakers make the infant feel important, and relating to them. When an individual is a child this feeling of inferiority continues but it should be seen as a motivational drive that encourages children to strive to be like their caregivers or role models, this is the child’s way to educate themselves (to mirror the behaviour of the adults the child admires) (Claparede & De Saussure,

By prescribing the symptom, the client makes them more conscious of the real nature of the situation. Clients must then accept the risk of their behaviour. By accepting their behaviour, the goal of this is that the inappropriate behaviour becomes less desirable for the client. For the counsellor to make use of this technique, the counsellor must have confidence in that when the symptom is identified, that the client will have a different view of the behaviour and then choose to change the behaviour (Sharf, 2010). Encouragement is a technique that helps the client to find his/her own strengths and recognise their power in order to affect the world through choice. Praise and encouragement are two different things; ideally encouragement happens before the client attempts a desired change or action. Encouragement can also be used to combat the client’s feelings of discouragement that some clients bring to the counselling session. Encouragement gives the client hope that they can have better lives (Murdock, 2013). Pleasing someone is another technique that the counsellor can make use of, the counsellor points out the client’s faulty life style and encourages the client to think daily about how and of a way of pleasing another individual (Murdock, 2013). Acting as if , is a technique that is used to help the client to visualise other possibilities, to act whether something is true,