Non-Hierarchical View of Maslow's Basic Needs

Abraham Maslow postulated a group of basic needs (physiological, safety, belonging, and esteem) that usually act in a hierarchical sequence; it is only after a lower need is satisfied, that a higher need can emerge as a significant motivator. Being "stuck" at a lower need level then results in chronic deficiency motivation.

From a Classical Adlerian perspective, Maslow's "needs" could also be conceptualized, not as a hierarchy, but as a flat group. Depending on the individual's unconscious, fictional final goal, and feeling of inferiority, one need could be pursued "as if" it were primary. A mistaken or pathological goal could elevate, demote, intensify, or neutralize almost any basic need. By contrast, a healthier goal (one based a stronger feeling of community) could satisfy all the basic needs concurrently.

An exaggerated goal of personal superiority security and significance (originally adopted in childhood) could intoxicate an individual with the illusion of an intensified "need" that they believe could only be satisfied in one specific, concrete form. If these excessive and rigid demands on reality could not be satisfied, it would inevitably lead to conflict and imagined, chronic feelings of deprivation. Classical Adlerian psychotherapy attempts to trace these mistaken ideas, about security, belonging, and significance, back to childhood, and then correct them.

Chasing a compensatory ideal that was invented in childhood, can compound the original feeling of deficiency with newly felt frustrations and defeats. A man, who had an abusive father, felt unsafe as child. He was determined to become a powerful fighter who could defeat anyone. In fact, his combative attitude provoked more danger, leading him into a the vicious circle of a personal "arms race". He could not initially imagine a sense of security resulting from becoming a kind, gentle, loving person.

In psychotherapy, it is fascinating to see how clients' "felt needs" change after they recognize and give up a dysfunctional goal. Dissolving the style of life and fictional final goal opens the door for a graduation from deficiency to growth motivation. See "Goal Redirection" (stage 11 of Classical Adlerian psychotherapy) at http://go.ourworld.nu/hstein/stages2.htm .

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