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Adlerian therapy focuses on understanding an individual’s lifestyle and social interests, examining past experiences and family dynamics, and encouraging goal-setting and positive behavior changes to overcome perceived barriers and foster a sense of belonging and purpose.
Portrait of Alfred Adler in the library with his own books. Hand drawn illustration.
Adlerian Therapy Techniques
The techniques used in Adlerian therapy aim to provide insight into an individual’s lifestyle, challenge and reorient unhealthy beliefs, and encourage socially beneficial behaviors.
Adlerian therapy’s techniques emphasize collaboration, insight, self-awareness, and encouragement. By understanding and reorienting deep-seated beliefs and patterns, individuals are empowered to live more purposeful and socially connected lives.
Here’s a breakdown of the key techniques in Adlerian therapy:
Stages of Adlerian Therapy
These stages serve as a guide since every individual’s journey will have a slightly different path.
As Adler (2013a) put it, “Just as one cannot find two leaves of a tree absolutely identical, so one cannot find two human beings absolutely alike” (p. 102).
Since in Adlerian psychology, the goal is for the patient to feel competent and connected, the overarching goal of Adlerian psychotherapy is to help the patient overcome feelings of inferiority.
This process has three subgoals:
Adlerian therapy focuses on understanding an individual’s lifestyle and social context. Beginning with establishing a therapeutic relationship, it proceeds to explore the client’s life history, assessing their private logic and lifestyle patterns.
Interventions aim to foster insight, challenge maladaptive beliefs, and encourage new behaviors. The goal is to empower the client to move towards a more socially oriented and purposeful life.
Phase 1: Establishing the Therapeutic Relationship
For psychotherapy to be effective, it is essential that the therapist and the client commence with a healthy working relationship. There must be a “warm, empathetic bond” which opens the door for gradual progress.
Phase 2: Assessment
The therapist must conduct a thorough assessment of the client in order to develop an effective therapeutic process. The analysis must identify at least the following elements:
These assessments are done through various methods, including the projective use of early memories in addition to intelligence, career, and psychological testing.
Phase 3: Encouragement and Clarification
For instance, if the client has a limited radius of activity, the client and the therapist might discuss ways to broaden their activity.
The second crucial aspect of this phase is to clarify the client’s core feelings and beliefs regarding the self, others, and life in general. This is done using Socratic questioning.
Through this method, the therapist challenges the clients’ private logic and focuses on psychological movement around his fictive goal.
Phase 4: Interpretation
Once the therapy has reached the point where the client has made some progress, and he and the therapist have examined the meaning of his movement in relation to his goals, the therapy is ready to begin interpreting the client’s style of life.
This must only be done when the client is encouraged sufficiently, and this must be done with significant care.
Discussing and recognizing topics such as the inferiority complex can be difficult for the client, but new insight can be transformative.
Phase 5: Style of Life Redirection
Now that the client and the therapist have recognized the issues with the client’s style of life, the task becomes to redirect the style of life towards life satisfaction.
This involves reducing and productively utilizing feelings of inferiority, changing the fictive final goal, and increasing feelings of community.
This is accomplished using different methods, depending on the client’s specific needs.
Phase 6: Meta-therapy
Finally, some clients may wish to seek further personal development, towards higher values such as truth, beauty, and justice.
Towards this end, the therapist can provide stimulation for the client to become the best version of himself.
This process is challenging and requires a deep understanding of the client.
Key Concepts
Adlerian therapy, rooted in the individual psychology of Alfred Adler, centers on understanding individuals within their social contexts.
By understanding and working with these concepts, Adlerian therapy aims to foster insight, challenge unhelpful beliefs, and empower individuals to lead more fulfilling, socially integrated lives.
Saul McLeod, PhD
BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester
Saul McLeod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.
Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc
BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education
Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.
Riley HoffmanLab Manager at Yale UniversityB.A., Psychology, Harvard UniversityRiley Hoffman is the Lab Manager for the Emotion, Health, and Psychophysiology Lab at Yale University. She graduated from Harvard University in May 2023 with a B.A. in Psychology. In the future, Riley plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Psychology and/or law school. Her research interests lie at the intersection of psychology, health, and society.
Riley HoffmanLab Manager at Yale UniversityB.A., Psychology, Harvard University
Riley Hoffman
Lab Manager at Yale University
B.A., Psychology, Harvard University
Riley Hoffman is the Lab Manager for the Emotion, Health, and Psychophysiology Lab at Yale University. She graduated from Harvard University in May 2023 with a B.A. in Psychology. In the future, Riley plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Psychology and/or law school. Her research interests lie at the intersection of psychology, health, and society.
