Individual Psychology
An Insight into Key Concepts of Individual Psychology
Individual psychological treatment works by identifying compensation mechanisms and promoting a community feeling.
Alfred Adler’s individual psychological theory is based on an interplay of diverse, interlocking concepts. A central concept is the inferiority complex, which — depending on its severity — can cause psychological difficulties.
Adler originally derived the feeling of inferiority that shapes people from a biologically determined weakness of certain organs. Based on this idea, he draws a parallel to the constitution of children, in which the feeling of being inferior plays a central role. According to Adler, both a very strict and an overly ‘indulgent’ upbringing can lead to these feelings of inferiority becoming a complex and the development of a neurotic worldview —characterized by despondency, hypersensitivity, and doubt. Adler describes how these tormenting feelings of inferiority are counteracted by compensation, for example by combating them through a desire for recognition.
Compensation can escalate into overcompensation, which manifests itself on an individual level as a tyrannical pursuit of power and can lead to authoritarian systems on a societal level. For Adler, the productive transformation of compensatory aspirations into social integration plays a decisive role. The community feeling is a central concept in individual psychology and can be described as the ability to cooperate or a feeling of belonging. Feelings of inferiority can be positively transformed by being part of a community and by feeling that one’s own abilities can be developed and used in social contexts.
For Adler, the psyche is a goal-oriented system (finality): fictional goals are created in the unconscious that must be achieved in order to secure self-esteem. People develop individual lifestyles that can be compared to very personal “melodies.” This refers to the way someone speaks, acts, thinks, and interacts – in short, our fictional goals are reflected in all our life movements. It is desirable to listen to this melody, to recognize and understand it.