Alfred Adler was born in Vienna, Austria on February 7, 1870. During the
early decades of this century he originated the ideas which, to a large
extent, have been incorporated into the mainstream of present-day theory and
practice of psychology and psychopathology.
The second of six children, Adler spent his childhood in the suburbs of
Vienna. He remembered that when he was about five years old, gravely ill with
pneumonia, the physician told his father that he doubted the child would
recover. It was at that time that Alfred decided he wanted to become a
doctor, so that he might be able to fight deadly diseases. He never changed
his mind, and in 1895 he acquired his M.D. degree at the University of
Vienna.
He was very close to his father, who he remembered saying often
during their walks through the Vienna woods, "Alfred, question everything." When we realize how in later life Adler always challenged
statements unless he felt they could be accepted without reasonable doubt,
his vivid recollection of this somewhat unusual admonition of his father is
understandable. Another childhood recollection that stood out in his
memory, and which he liked to relate to children having difficulty with their
schoolwork, recalled an occasion when a teacher had suggested that his
father take Alfred out of school and apprentice him to a cobbler, since he
never would graduate anyway. His father only scoffed at the teacher and
expressed his disapproval of him to his son. At the time, Alfred, having
lost interest in school, had failed in mathematics. He now decided to show
the teacher what he could do; in a short time he became first in his class
in mathematics and never again experienced any difficulties in his studies.
In 1898, at age 28, Adler wrote his first book, which deals with the health
conditions of tailors. In it he sets forth what later was to become one of
the main tenets of his school of thought: the necessity of looking at man
as a whole, as a functioning entity, reacting to his environment as well as
to his physical endowment, rather than as a summation of instincts, drives
and other psychological manifestations.
In 1902, when Adler was one of the few who reacted favorably to his book on
dream interpretations, Freud sent him a hand-written postcard suggesting he
join the circle which met weekly in Freud's home to discuss newer aspects
of psychopathology. At that time Adler had already started collecting
material on patients with physical handicaps, studying both their organic
and psychological reactions to them. Only when Freud had assured him that in
his circle a variety of views would be discussed, including Adler's, did
he accept the invitation.
Five years later, in 1907, Adler published his book on organ inferiority
and its compensation. From then on, the difference between Freud's and
Adler's views became steadily more marked. Adler had never accepted Freud's
original theories that mental difficulties were caused exclusively by a
sexual trauma, and he opposed the generalizations when dreams were
interpreted, in each instance, as sexual wish fulfillment. After prolonged
discussions, during which each of the two men tried to win the other over
to his point of view--attempts doomed to failure from the start-- Adler left
Freud's circle in 1911 with a group of eight colleagues and formed his own
school. After that, Freud and Adler never met again.
In 1912 Adler published his book, The Neurotic Constitution, in
which he further developed his main concepts. He called his psychological
system "Individual Psychology," a term which is sometimes misunderstood. It
refers to the indivisibility of the personality in its psychological
structure. His next book, Understanding Human Nature, comprises lectures given at the Viennese Institute for Adult Education.
After returning from war duty in 1918, Adler founded several child guidance
clinics in Vienna. These were soon visited by professionals from abroad,
stimulating the development of similar clinics in other countries.
In 1926 Adler was invited to lecture at Columbia University, and from 1932
on he held the first chair of Visiting Professor of Medical Psychology at
Long Island College of Medicine. During these years he
spent only the summer months, from May to October, in Vienna, and the
academic year lecturing in the States. His family joined him there in 1935.
Adler's lectures were overcrowded from the beginning, and he communicated
as easily with his audiences in English as he did when using his native
German tongue. He was in Aberdeen, Scotland, to deliver a series of
lectures at the university when, on May 28, 1937, he suddenly collapsed
while walking in the street and died from heart failure within a few
minutes.
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