Adler Leaves Freud, Forms Individual Psychology

Up to now: Adler and Freud clearly disagree on the causes of neuroses. This led to a series of debates. In the first, Adler offers “inferiority feelings” and “over-compensation” for them as a way to explain neurosis. Now Adler adds masculine protest, social forces, and Psychology of Use as other explanations. Finally Freud chastises Adler for his non-psychoanalytic views.

The next two meetings contained heated and negative reactions to Adler’s ideas. At the end, Adler resigned his presidency of the Society, and two months later (under pressure from Freud) he also gave up editing the journal. Twelve of the members wrote Freud a letter of protest and said that they would continue to work with Adler while still attending Freud’s group. This led Freud to say there could be no “dual membership.” So eight of Adler’s supporters thanked the group for what they had learned and, with Adler, left the psychoanalytic society.

Within a year Adler and the others had formed Individual Psychology. (from the Latin individuum, “that which cannot be separated into parts,” to stress the
unity of personality.)

The new group met regularly at Adler’s apartment to discuss his ideas. They were eager to study Adler’s ideas, and to make their own contributions to what they saw as a new and exciting alternative to Freud. The new ideas were stimulating under the new circumstances. Now they could speak freely, without fearing the wrath of Freud if they said something not in keeping with his ideas. From the beginning the atmosphere was hospitable to new ideas, which led them to expressd themselves in their own way with their own words. This would be characteristic of Adler’s groups, classes, lectures, and therapy sessions in the future. Now there were no initiation rituals or oaths of allegiance. Their group was not closed to new ideas or to visitors whose views differed from Freud’s. It was as if someone had thrown open the windows to let in the fresh air of new ideas able to be openly discussed. Anyone of them could bring a guest, so at each meeting there was a stream of interested physicians, teachers, writers, and others from the city or beyond.

Perhaps an indication of the positive, encouraging atmosphere of this new group was that Raissa herself, always jealous of her husband’s success, nevertheless took the notes of the meetings.

The atmosphere was one of encouragement and cooperation, equality, and charged creativity. They saw themselves entering a new territory, uncharted in many ways, where their contributions could make a real difference.

This they took from Adler’s own example, which was extended to his attitude toward therapy: that counseling sessions and society meetings were a coopeative enterprise in which all worked together toward a common goal...whether it be reduction of neutoritc behaviors in a client...or the estalilshment of new ideas or new ways of wording the old ones.

In 1912, Adler submitted The Neurotic Constitution to the Vienna Medical School as the basis for a non-paying teaching position. In it he established almost all the major categories of Individual Psychology, lacking only Social Interest. But in 1915 the Vienna College of Professors rejected Adler’s work as “more philosophy than medicine.” His daughter, Alexandra, said this signaled the point at which Adler would by-pass the conservative medical establishment and take his ideas directly to professionals, government leaders, educators, and the general public through his frequent and popular lectures.

Next time: Individual Psychology matures