Alfred Adler Institute of Northwestern Washngton

Theme Packs on Selected Topics
From The Collected Clinical Works of Alfrted Adler, Volumes 1-12
Edited by Henry T. Stein, Ph.D.

You may now order theme packs on selected topics from "The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler." Each pack includes a full chapter, written by Alfred Adler, devoted to that topic, as well as a condensed overview of Classical Adlerian psychology. After you place your order via PayPal, I will send you an e-mail with the pdf file attached, as well as a password to open it. (If you do not have the free Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can get it here). You will then be able to read, print, search, and copy portions of the chapter for your personal use in course reports and papers. After securing permission from htstein@att.net, a limited number of copies may be printed and distributed to class or study group members. The material may not be used for publication without the expressed consent of Dr. Stein, nor may the pdf file be copied and distributed to others.


To buy each theme pack, use the "Buy Now" links.

Theme Pack 1 - Birth Order: "How Position in the Family Constellation Influences Life Style," by Alfred Adler. Adler explores the difficulties facing oldest, second, youngest, and only children in a family. He also illustrates the influences of pampering, dethronement, and sexual roles. Chapter XXV from "The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler" - Volume 7 (14 pages).
Sent via e-mail as a pdf file.
Includes a condensed overview of Classical Adlerian Psychology .......................... $14.00
Theme Pack 2 - Dreams: "On the Interpretation of Dreams," by Alfred Adler. After presenting a short summary of Freud's contributions to dream theory, Adler offers a contrasting perspective of dreams (with illustrations) as attempts to solve the problems of life, away from common sense--toward an unconscious style of life. Chapter XXI from "The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler" - Volume 7 (13 pages). Sent via e-mail as a pdf file.
Includes a condensed overview of Classical Adlerian Psychology .......................... $13.00
Theme Pack 3 - Substance Abuse: "Narcotic Abuse and Alcoholism," by Alfred Adler. Rather than struggling to solve a difficult problem, the substance abuser often seeks quick relief. Adler suggests a series of penetrating interview questions that reveal what is being avoided, and discusses the lack of preparation problem-solving since early childhood. Chapter VII from "The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler" - Volume 7 (16 pages). Sent via e-mail as a pdf file.
Includes a condensed overview of Classical Adlerian Psychology .......................... $16.00
Theme Pack 4 - Early Recollections: "Significance of Early Recollections," by Alfred Adler. When correctly understood in relation to the rest of an individual's life, early recollections (although often imagined) contain the central interests of that person. They give us valuable hints and clues in finding the direction of a person's striving and style of life. Chapter XXVI from "The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler" - Volume 7 (4 pages). Sent via e-mail as a pdf file.
Includes a condensed overview of Classical Adlerian Psychology .......................... $4.00
Theme Pack 5 - Striving & Social Interest: "The Origin of the Striving for Superiority & Social Interest," by Alfred Adler. Every individual strives for completeness. Variations are the striving for perfection, superiority, and power, yielding different degress of social usefulness. The basic direction of human evolution is social feeling which needs social understanding in order to develop. Chapter XXVI from "The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler" - Volume 7 (4 pages). Sent via e-mail as a pdf file.
Includes a condensed overview of Classical Adlerian Psychology .......................... $6.00
Theme Pack 6 - Criminals & Crime: "Individual Psychololgy and Crime," by Alfred Adler. In criminals, social interest is deeply disturbed, or in some cases non-existent. Not interested in others, he can cooperate only to a certain degree. When this level is exhausted, and a problem is too difficult for him, he turns to crime. Chapter XXIII from "The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler" - Volume 6 (11 pages). Sent via e-mail as a pdf file.
Includes a condensed overview of Classical Adlerian Psychology .......................... $11.00
Theme Pack 7 - Philosophy: "The Meaning of Life," by Alfred Adler. Feeling valuable results from a successful contribution to others and is the only direction in which the average inferiority feelings of people experience a successful compensation. To be valuable means to have contributed. Thus, human happiness can be found only in applied social interest. Chapter XXIV from "The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler" - Volume 6 (8 pages). Sent via e-mail as a pdf file.
Includes a condensed overview of Classical Adlerian Psychology .......................... $8.00
Theme Pack 8 - Inferiority & Striving: "The Feeling of Inferiority and the Striving for Recognition," by Alfred Adler. In children, there is a basic human need to compensate for the feeling of inferiority with an increased quest for recognition. We should never demand more than the child can accomplish, because at this point most of our errors in education begin. Educators should not use physical or psychological punishment, not ridicule children, or humiliate them in any way. Chapter II from "The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler" - Volume 6 (6 pages). Sent via e-mail as a pdf file.
Includes a condensed overview of Classical Adlerian Psychology .......................... $6.00
Theme Pack 9 - Character & Talent: "Character and Talent," by Alfred Adler. Talent is not inherited, and the possibilities and potentialities of any individual for performance are not fixed, nor are intellectual and other talents separated from the totality of the personality. One must first understand this totality before attempting to judge the level of performance in any sensible way. Adler emphasizes the role of training and the struggle to overcome difficulties and defects. Chapter I from "The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler" - Volume 6 (11 pages). Sent via e-mail as a pdf file.
Includes a condensed overview of Classical Adlerian Psychology .......................... $11.00
Theme Pack 10 - Love and Marriage: "Love is a Recent Invention," "Marriage as a Mutual Task," "Disturbances in Love Relationships," & "Marriage as a Responsibility," by Alfred Adler. According to Adler, the ideal of modern love did not exist until women were emancipated from their social and economic shackles; it is a dyad of equal partners. From this perspective, many of the early writings of poets and philosophers about love are for the most part "nonsense." If the early impulses of affection in a child are accompanied by a felt weakness, later in adulthood, mature love will be incompatible with a striving for personal power. The decision to marry, from both partners, ought to spring from a mutual striving for humaneness. Chapters XIX, XXVII, & XXXVI from "The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler" - Volume 5 (21 pages). Chapter XXIV from "The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler" - Volume 7 (6 pages). Sent via e-mail as a pdf file.
Includes a condensed overview of Classical Adlerian Psychology .......................... $27.00
Theme Pack 11 - Influencing Children: "Problem Children" and "The Child's Symptom Selection," by Alfred Adler. Adler stresses the futility of dominance and punishment in influencing children. In order to gain a child's respect and cooperation, an adult must approach the child with a feeling of equality and engage the child in a friendly discussion to solve problems for mutual benefit. Children who feel intimidated by adults, often resort to lying, deception, and annoying symptoms to defeat their adversary. Chapter XXXIV from "The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler" - Volume 5 (11 pages). Chapter II from "The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler" - Volume 7 (11 pages). Sent via e-mail as a pdf file.
Includes a condensed overview of Classical Adlerian Psychology .......................... $22.00
Theme Pack 12 - The Roots of Child Guidance: "The Physician as Educator" and "The Child's Need for Affection," by Alfred Adler. In his earlist writings as a physician, before developing his principles of psychological theory and practice, Adler urges the medical community to look at the education of children. He stresses the avoidance of punishment as well as the seminal importance of affection. These articles foreshadow his later conception of social interest as a central factor in personality development. Chapter VI from "The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler" - Volume 2 (7 pages). Chapter XIII from "The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler" - Volume 2 (3 pages). Sent via e-mail as a pdf file.
Includes a condensed overview of Classical Adlerian Psychology .......................... $10.00
Theme Pack 13 - Criminals and Cure: "The Individual Criminal and His Cure" and "Neurosis and Crime," by Alfred Adler. The paper is a study on the ciminal's private logic: on his egoism, greed, and the exclusion of other people. All people around the criminal are there only to satisfy his needs and cravings. Many people also find a feeling of superiority when they resist laws, police, and authorities in general. Adler believes that a harsh education may be a contributing cause in the development of a criminal personality, but more important, is how much the hardships experienced during the "tender years" are in conflict with the person's real feeling of himself. Chapter XIX from "The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler" - Volume 6 (14 pages). Chapter XIII from "The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler" - Volume 5 (12 pages). Sent via e-mail as a pdf file.
Includes a condensed overview of Classical Adlerian Psychology .......................... $26.00
Theme Pack 14 - Delinquency: "Where Should the Struggle Against Delinquency Begin?" and "The Structure and Prevention of Delinquency," by Alfred Adler. Although Adler believes that the preventing delinquency must be advanced from many fronts, from the family to the government, he centers on the school as the most likely place to begin. He emphasizes that crime occurs where social interest, empathy and sympathy are insufficiently developed, criminals regarding other people merely as objects. The challenge is for parents and teachers to recognize the critical, early development of social interest as the best prevention of delinquency. Chapter I from "The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler" - Volume 5 (3 pages). Chapter XIX from "The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler" - Volume 7 (9 pages). Sent via e-mail as a pdf file.
Includes a condensed overview of Classical Adlerian Psychology .......................... $12.00
Theme Pack 15: Creative Power - "Striving Toward Ideal Form" by Alfred Adler. Adler clarifies the individual's role in the steady steam of evolution, pushed by the early blessing of inferiority feelings, pulled by an imagined ideal of completion, and fueled by creative power. These powerful vectors of striving to overcome difficulties and the imagining of ideal solutions fuel the engine of social evolution. Yet, small to monumental errors can be made, and Adler recognizes the dangers of early mistaken directions that hinder socially useful improvements. His genius lies in the early recognition of positive and negative tendencies and strategies for correcting the individual's life course. Chapter II from "The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler" - Volume 12 (12 pages). Sent via e-mail as a pdf file.
Includes a condensed overview of Classical Adlerian Psychology .......................... $12.00



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