CLASSICAL ADLERIAN PSYCHOTHERAPY FORUM ARCHIVE
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Re; Adler, Dark Side, and The Heart
Henry Stein · 2/25/96 at 6:10 PM ET
Gil,
Your encouraging and challenging messages are deeply appreciated. On this Forum, our readers are invisible to us unless their comments or questions are posted. Hopefully, this circle of discussion will widen.
Re: "The Darker Side of Human Nature"
Adlerian psychology addresses the complete range of human experience, from optimal to pathological. The ideal of a fully functioning individual, with a highly developed of feeling of community is posited as a benchmark, from which all deviations are evaluated.
Adler considered the darker side of human nature as a potential that could develop in individuals if their feeling of community was not sufficiently developed. He saw this darker side, not as an inevitable characteristic of all people, but as a probable reaction to early childhood neglect, abuse, or pampering. These overburdening influences inhibit the development of the feeling of community and frequently lead to mistaken conclusions about oneself and life. In these cases, the generic striving for significance may deteriorate into destructive striving for power over others. However, it is not the original childhood circumstances that "cause" the dark side to emerge in adults -- it is their unchanged, mistaken opinions of themselves and others, as well as their unchanged, unconscious, fictional goals (the choice of wrong directions).
Therapeutically, the challenge of Adlerian psychotherapy is not to merely uncover or integrate this dark side but to overcome it mentally, emotionally, and behaviorally. In this respect, Adlerian theory and practice is more optimistic about human nature and therapeutic change than many other approaches. Adler believed that an increase in the feeling of community was the primary key to the prevention and cure of mental illness, addiction, and criminal behavior.
Re: "What About the Heart?"
The feeling side of the Adlerian approach is very important, but often not sufficiently emphasized in the available literature. The personality ideal of "Gemienshaftsgefuhl" (the feeling of community) is a deep "feeling" of being connected, and embedded in all of life, past, present, and future. It begins with the infant's feeling of being positively connected to the mother, may extend to the father and siblings, and hopefully, develop beyond the family in ever-widening circles. Fundamentally, it is a feeling of being at home on this earth, yet this feeling can grow as wide as the cosmos.
By approaching our patients with warm, friendly understanding, we provide the beginning correction for their missing or deficient feeling of connectedness. First, we empathize with their emotional distress, and then gradually help them realize that most of their thoughts, feelings, and actions are consequences of their immediate or future (unconscious) goals. Patients may frequently understand the logic of trying a new direction, but their familiar feelings and emotions do not provide a sufficient spark to move in that unfamiliar direction. At that point, we may try eidetic or guided imagery to promote an emotional breakthrough. Providing corrective "missing experiences" in group therapy may also be effective.
We try to balance our therapeutic interventions so that the head and the heart are equally stimulated.
Henry
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