The following questions, answers, and comments about Classical Adlerian philosophy, theory, and practice have been excerpted from discussion forums, newsgroups, and e-mail correspondence. The text has been edited minimally for clarity and readability. All of this material is protected by copyright and may not be reproduced without the expressed consent of Dr. Stein at htstein@att.net.

29. Use of Early Recollections

Question from Forum: I think many people would find it interesting to have additional information regarding Early Recollections (ER) and their use as a projective technique.

What are your own feelings about the use of ER as a projective technique.

"When rightly understood in relation to the rest of an individual's life, his early recollections are found always to have a bearing on the central interests of that person's life. Early recollections give us hints and clues which are most valuable to follow when attempting the task of finding the direction of a person's striving. They are most helpful in revealing what one regards as values to be aimed for and what one senses as dangers to be avoided. They help us to see the kind of world which a particular person feels he is living in, and the early ways he found of meeting that world. They illuminate the origins of the style of life. The basic attitudes which have guided an individual throughout his life and which prevail, likewise, in his present situation, are reflected in those fragments which he has selected to epitomize his feeling about life, and to cherish in his memory as reminders. He has preserved these as his early recollections." (From "Significance of Earliest Recollections," International Journal of Individual Psychology, (1937) Vol. 3.

Earliest recollections provide an elegant projective tool for gaining useful therapeutic insight. When used creatively and diplomatically, they also offer opportunities to promote cognitive, affective, and behavioral change in the middle and later stages of psychotherapy.

I usually elicit both oral and written recollections from a client; even though they may appear similar, some differences are often revealing. When eliciting oral recollections, it is important to notice the client's attitude, expression, posture, gestures, and feeling while giving the memory. Written recollections, embedded in a comprehensive questionnaire, may suggest clues from handwriting, spelling, grammar, word choice, and punctuation.

Interpreting earliest recollections accurately, requires the context of comprehensive case information. See "Suggestions for Presenting or Discussing a Case" at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/hstein/pres-cas.htm . Guesses about the meaning of recollections should be checked carefully against the background of the presenting problem and all available case information.

Interpreting earliest recollections, as well as the style of life, is a fine art. In addition to the skills of analysis and synthesis, it requires a sensitivity to images, metaphors, and the nuances of feelings. Some of my students have found it initially helpful to structure their case study work according to the stages of the creative process, as well as the discipline of qualitative analysis. (See the course outline for "Case Analysis and Treatment Planning" at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/hstein/dt301.htm .)

43. Spiritiual Assessment Questions

Question from Forum: I'm seeking a non-secular spiritual inventory assessment tool (or questionaire) to be used along with the Life-Style Assessment. The purpose for this spiritual assessment tool is to get a good picture of how clients are meeting the life task of dealing with the spiritual self in reaction to the universe, God, and similar concepts.

(Quoting Mueller)

.....Here we must emphasize a primary function of the human consciousness. The consciousness entails the ability to reflect, to question, and to search for answers. Man is not only capable of thinking, but he also has the need to ask questions and to seek answers to how he can master a given situation, and then conduct himself under certain conditions.

When faced by things, creatures, or a situation, man above all will ask the question: "how and what is that?" This is only the beginning of questions. The correct questioning is a process that can be suppressed, but there is a tendency to take the following steps:

1. What and how is that?
2. Does it have to be so?
3. Can it be otherwise?
4. Should it be otherwise?
5. How should it be?
6. What can I do?

Beginning with the second, every following question contains something special. Man is capable of not accepting facts, the world as it is. He can test the possible or the necessity to change the given situation, that is, he can look at the given as a challenge. To question oneself and given circumstances and to want to make changes is a characteristic of the human being.

The ways and means by which a person lives his life is key to whether his search for its essence is self-centered, or for mainly an intellectual discourse with the world and with himself.

In responding to the question: "How should it be?" he makes a significant decision. His response can be: the world should be fashioned so that we can live in it well; or: the world should be, and become, as it should be. The second response expresses something significantly new. The world is not only for me, for us, but also for itself. All living matter have not only meaning relative to us, they have within them a sense and purpose for their existence. It should become as it should be. With that response I can still mean my wellbeing, but also that of the world as well. In the latter, the assumption is included that the world originally had meaning and served not only human purposes.

The world is unfinished and incomplete. It is for man to continue to shape and complete it. How it is to be formed, and what is to become of it is something man himself has to find out while constantly in danger of going astray. He can always approach more closely the deeper purpose of the world, or he can spoil it. Man can ask the questions that have been presented of the world, of other forms of life, of his own situation and of events; he can ask them with reference to himself. .....

For more information about Alexander Mueller, visit our web site at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/hstein/ and follow the "Biograhies" link, then follow the "Readings" link to the "Philosophy and Theology" section.

44. People Who Like to Say "No"

Question from Forum: I am writing a series of articles on customer service and have no explanation for the rampant phenomena of the "No People".

I read several of your responses and found one, in particluar, that hit the nail on the head! "When adequately developed, the feeling of community leads to an attitude of cooperative interdepency and a desire to contribute." Why is this feeling of community and connectedness missing in so many people?

The "No People" are those clerks, customer service reps, salespeople, secretaries, etc. who are intent on answering every question with a "No." The best customer service training programs are ineffective given the proclivity of so many people to want to say, "No" instead of "Yes."

So, I have started researching the behavioral side of this phenomena. I am an absolute neophyte but in my prelimary research have 'stumbled' upon quotes and articles from Adler and students. I have thought it was some kind of power and control issue. But why can't the power and control be positive instead of always negative? Any comment, suggested reading, etc. would be greatly appreciated.

The eventual results of early childhood pampering or neglect are often quite similar. As adults, victims of any of the parental mistakes mentioned above may become self-pampering and choose either passively expectant or actively demanding attitudes toward others. In either case, the level of feeling of community is very low or quite superficial and conditional. They can be pleasant to those who indulge them or give in to their demands; however, they can become uncooperative or negative to anyone who asks them to help or do their fair share of work. (Adler stated that every pampered child eventually becomes a hated child.)

One can imagine a self-pampering adult who resentfully has to work for a living, stuck in a job where he has to "serve the needs " of customers. As someone who is unfamiliar with "giving" and addicted to "taking", he can easily be tempted to answer "no" to any request that requires extra effort.

Children frequently discover the feeling of power that comes from denying any adult what they want. (It is seductive to use negativity as a self-indulgent substitute for the more difficult path of building social competence.) Many adults carry this negative power of "no" into relationships and work. Social reality sets limits on how far they can go without paying a price, so they often push this strategy of refusal just up to the brink of suffering major consequences.

The desire to say "no" can develop into a complex or style of life. (Adler refers to the "no complex" in Superiority and Social Interest, and the neurotic distancing and self-elevating purposes of "no" in The Neurotic Constitution.) Usually, the individual is not fully conscious of this tendency (yet everyone else around him is) and overcoming this style of life generally requires therapeutic insight and patient encouragement.




For permission to copy or reproduce any of this material, please contact:

Henry T. Stein, Ph.D., Director
Alfred Adler Institute of Northwestern Washington
2565 Mayflower Lane
Bellingham, WA 98226
Phone: (360) 647-5670
E-mail: HTStein@att.net
Web Site: http://www.Adlerian.us