Alfred Adler: Personality Theories Essay

I well-educated a lot regarding record psychology during my dowery plan project that involved the whirl of mental assistance to a teen in cherish anxiety that was laden with several psychological problems emanating from separation and loss of distinguishd atomic number 53s. The experience gave me a deeper insight into the system of self and some others as part of personality identity. For instance, the knob (Y) had all the undercoats to face the port traits that she exhibited in the first place the disturbance platformme, simply because her perception of self congress to others led her into forming an inferior perception on herself ( unfavorable position complex).Ansbacher & Ansbacher (Eds. ) (1956) A quick heavyset of the knob keep indicates that, despite macrocosm young (15 years) and from a minority group (Hispanics) she had lived in foster misgiving system for much than sextette years, her other time was spend with family members and ex goed family sin ce she was six years. She and her associate consider ab protrude one year without seeing their mother since she (mother) has been in and out of tuck in collectable to drug related cases. Her aunt placed her and her buddy in foster care because she could non afford to take care of them.She has been into quad foster care shells and three different schools in a period of two years she has also been living in four different demographic areas. Generally, the guest was experiencing a lot of difficulties in deal to her wise placement she showed defiant behaviors to the foster care workers, she has severally express her resentment for being in a foster fundament, and she piece of ass non explain the motive as to why she cannot live with her family members instead of other sights family.Based on the self and others perspective, there may aim existed the wish that the client would one day grow out of her offensive behavior as she was still young, however, my seconding plan was command by Adlerian speculation of personality that holds that prototypeistic plans for adulthood are often formed proto(prenominal) in ones action powerful affirmative or negative experiences at a young period impacts one future life, for bore he (Adler) loosed his young brother aged three years, as a result he vowed to overcome death, he became a doctor in later years.My assessment of the clients problems revealed that they were serious and therefore demanded a holistic forward motion that would fix them formerly and for all and give the client a reason to smile and be happy by helping her, create, nurture, and exhibit positive attitude towards life. The ABC model that was used to solve the clients problems can be said to be holistic it investigated the causal agents to the clients problems (separation and losses), it helped her to found a pixilated believe about the behavior that leads to the problems, and it enabled her to see the consequent of such behaviors were surroundingsally entrenched.Holistic approach was one of the calling cards that defined Adlerian theories of personality psychology. The helping plan objectives were measurable and achievable and prototype to Adlerian supposition of unmarried Psychology. In developing the theory Adler, was deeply intrigued by the archaean life of Theodore Roosevelt, which was characterized by several bouts of sicknesses such as diarrhea, nausea, coughs, fever, thinness, nearsightedness, and other sorts of severe illnesses.Again, Adler early life at home and in school was right of setbacks, he had to spend four years before learning how to walk due an attack of rickets, in school he was a below norm student nevertheless he became a medical doctor in his future life. My client was young and faced with deprivation of close family members, as a result she loosed interest in life she did not bear the reason as why other children of her age were enjoying their parental love while did not.There fore, my helping plan created what Adler refereed to as motivational force the striving for ne plus ultra the desire we all have to fulfill our potentials, to come walking(prenominal) and closer to our ideal the idea of self-actualization, self-actualization because it was designed to teach the client naked strategies of dealing and overcoming hurt and anger. The clients, problem can be interpreted as emanating from the uniqueness with which every mortal has in respect to others. match to Adlers Individual Psychology, four aspects define the personality growth of individuals.These aspects are the victimization of personality, striving towards superiority, psychological health, and unity of personality. In efforts to strain for perfection, sometimes people are haunted by the look that they are inferior to others ( lower status complex) the deficiency of self-worth. This feelings gets into an individuals mind when he or she perceives his environment to be inadequate to hel p in striving to reach a goal by skill of which will make us feel strong, superior, and complete.This is the exact situation that the client Y seemed to be in, she wanted to be accorded parental love simply as other children, she wanted to live with her members of family just as other children did, but being in a foster care home made realize that she was more inferior to those other children as her efforts to stand indifferently only worsened her situation moving from one foster care home to another.The intervention program was meant to help the client to gesture from this lower status to complex to a better place that would enable her to build a positive attitude in life the superiority complex. According to Adler, people are al agencys trying to overcome the feelings of inferiority and substitute them with superiority complex feelings. The intervention programs model and tactic used in inputting and outputting important information from the client led to what Adler claime d to be fictional finalism.It tried to induce a clear sense of attention to making decisions that c erstrns the client wellbeing as a foster care home member. The client knew very well that her mother was in jail and that her aunt could not afford to take care of her and her brother, but she act agonizing and making her life in the foster care homes more difficult. The intervention helped to create what Adler termed as mental phenomenon that helps an individual in discovering new characteristic pursuits of goals, powers, faculties, experiences, wishes and fears, defects and capacities.Both conscious and unconscious faculties of the client were utilized by dint ofout the intervention program, in the stages of information extraction and act strategy teaching, this steered the client into the final fictional finalism stage. Adler declared that each individual has an incomparable way of life, some people are negative while others are positive, this was effectuate in the interventio ns careful measures of evaluation (both formative and summative) were aimed at accommodating and modifying the intervention where necessary in order to suit the individual uniqueness of the client.Again, the rigorous information extraction and coping strategy impart is a prototype to Alderian methods of individual psychology. Alderians are known to excavate the clients olden in view of altering his or her future by increase the integration into community in the here-and-now. This approach leads to the creation of holistic individuals who boasts of having salubrious personalities free from dysfunctions. According to Adler, humane psychology is psycho propellant in nature, yet it is guided by goals and fuelled by yet to be known creative forces.These goals have a teleological function, in that, they are fictional. The inferiority/superiority dynamic is constantly at work during the process of shaping human psychology. This is achieved through numerous compensation and over-compen sation which comes in varying forms. This is exactly what I learned during my roles as a helper in the intervention program. For instance, the intervention programs core goal was to help the client develop and practice worthwhile strategies of coping with anger and anxiety in their stay in foster care homes.In his work, Adler argued that human personality can be explained in a teleological manner the separate strands that are characterized by dominance in the urge to invoke individuals unconscious self ideal to convert the feelings of inferiority to superiority and finally to fictional finalism. The intervention program provided the teleological space to understand the client personality and hence strive to induce the conscience ideal for the conversion of inferiority feelings to superiority feelings and ultimately the fictional finalism.The three foot tosses (what matters to the client now? Where the client is as it relate to what matters? What the client is willing to do to move forward the indented prudence? ), used in the study helped to come up with the correct strategies for coping in foster care home life, and in offering the curb dose of compensation that was able to induce the conscience to convert the feelings of inferiority to those of superiority.Just as Adler contended, if corrective factors were disregarded and the individual over-compensated, then an inferiority complex would occur that would foster the danger of the individual becoming power-hungry, egocentric, aggressive or even worse than he or she was before the intervention program, and hence, the notion that the fictive final goal of an intervention program can serve as a persecutory tool.The intervention results indicated that, the client benefited greatly she could persist out with her normal chores, she related well with the foster care homes helpers, she loosened up, and above all she was now ready to explore areas of life that she was in denial and distorted. This confirmed what Adler termed as amicable feeling or community feeling. It also further displayed the importance of holism in personality psychology, as no one can achieve perfection without putting into active consideration his or her complaisant environment.Again, his arguments on social interest were that it is n each in born(p) nor learned but it is a combination of both. In an innate perspective one can display social interest when he or she smiles when others do so, or a fry showing sympathy for others even without having been taught so. The self and other phenomenon is displayed through the dahs of life adopted by individuals. As social beings, human do not exist, they much less thrive, without others, and even the about resolute people-hater formed that abomination in a social context.Adler clarified that the process of compensation, correction, and conversion of inferiority feelings to superiority ones is more than just talking about a persons personality, rather, it entails the styl e of life of that particular individual. The style of life or just lifestyle is how one live his or her life, how he or she handle problems and social relations. For instance, the lifestyle of a tree is the individuality of the tree expressing itself and molding itself in an environment.We recognize a tree when we see it against a background of an environment different from what we expect, for then we realize that every tree has a life pattern and is not merely a mechanical reaction to the environment. by what can be termed as beautiful methods of relating between a proponent and client, I was able to impart the client with strategies that helped her to respond to the inferiorities that were inherent in her life. This what Adler referred to as compensation to make up for ones deficiencies in some way.The client learned that the environment that she was leaving in was responsible for her problems, and that her predicaments had nothing to do with foster care homes, her family or other people. This client understood her environment was responsible for her predicaments, this helped her learn to put at watch her anger and anxiety. From a self and others perspective, I gained an insight into Adlers birth order theory by relating with client Y in the intervention.According to the theory, firsts are usually pampered before the arrival of second born who dethrones them of that status. The young born tend to be overindulged leading to poor social empathy. In a family of three children, the first born tend to suffer a lot as he take scare of the other siblings despite losing the pampered status they once enjoyed, the middle born are not affected by either pampering or overindulgence and therefore they end up being successful in life. Being the first born and having only one sibling, a younger brother, speaks volumes of her problems.The fact that she started living with her aunt at the age of six years and that, her mother has been in and out of jails and has been on drugs most of her life, indicates that she hardly experienced enough parental love. Being the first born means that she was once loved and pampered before the arrival of her brother who jibe to Adler dethroned her. Again, the fact that she has lived in four demographic areas, shows that, her young life was full of inconsistencies. Her behavior could be explained by the fact that the responsibilities of looking after her brother rests in her shoulders.A combination of factors explains this the absence of her mother (in jail) and family members and her being the firstborn with a younger brother that lives with her in the foster care home. This cognition helped me to facilitate the correct doses for compensation, and hence the success of the intervention, just as Adler once asserted that, It is easier to fight for ones principles than live up to them. The success of the intervention program was as a result of my assuming the traits of a buddy, confidant, showing genuine interest, respecting her, accepting her, supporting her, etc.The tactics that is busy in the interventions are a prototype to Adlers mode of offering therapy was that of two chairs rather a couch, whereby the client and the counselor sat go about one another. His was democratic affair unlike autocratic, he contended that, therapists should never allow in their diligents to force them into assuming the role of an authoritarian figure, since this will allow the patient to play games that he or she might have played before such as setting the therapist as a deliverer only to pounce on him when he starts revealing his humanness.He viewed the impuissance to turn up for appointments, becoming stubborn or demanding special favors by patients as lack of courage to give up their neurotic behaviors. Patients should not be forced into understanding their lifestyles but rather should be brought into a state of feeling that they are listening and hence they can understand. The therapist should also e ncourage the patient, by developing a genuine human relationship. pp. 335 References Adler, A. (1956). The Individual Psychology, of Alfred Adler. H. L. Ansbacher & R. R. Ansbacher (Eds. ) New York Harper Torchbooks, accessed on April 4, 2009