Alfred Adler (1870-1937), had not only been a general practice physician, he also was a psychotherapist, and a peer of the well-known psychiatrist, Sigmund Freud. Eventually, due to his differences with Freud's theories, Adler broke away from Freud's group, to start his own movement, Individual Psychology. Here is a breakdown of some of the concepts in this short introduction to Adler, and a summarized description of each:
Social Interest - the German word Gemeinschaftsgefuhl (true German has the double dots over the u, but my keyboard was not helpful towards this), describes a sense of belonging to the community, caring about the community
Purposive Behavior - people move towards their need to feel belonging, being part of a community, and have significance, to make contributions to the community
Inferiority Feeling - comes about due to feelings of being less than (inferior) from discouraging experiences
Private Logic - a person's actions are based upon that person's perceptions of events
Family Constellation - for a particular person, it consists of their family members who lived in their home during their formative years as a child, with a description that includes the gender and age of each family member
Natural and Logical Consequences - what happens due to the choices and decisions a person makes
Alfred Adler epitomized the true meaning of democracy in his beliefs that children should be taught to participate in decision making, so they can realize their value as a contributing member of the family. This extends to other situations, for example, marriages and the workplace.
I'll leave you with his concept of encouragement - something we all can use a lot of in life. Basically, learning to rely on our own judgment and strength instead of the external environment.
I invite you to comment on being introduced to Adlerian Theory.