6 - Adler's Individual Psychology grows

Up to now: 1902: Adler joined with Freud to create pshychoanalysis and psychological treatment of the neuroses. 1911: After several debates, Adler and eight others left Freud to form Individual Psychology based on Adler’s ideas. 1915: Rejected for a volunteer teaching position by the conservative medical establishment, Adler took his ideas directly to the public in lectures and writings.

In 1916 Adler was drafted into the Austrian army as a physician. He was in charge of a hospital whose duty was to return soldiers to battle as quickly as possible. He saw that psychology was being used to separate out malingerers. Many of the men suffered “shell shock” or “war neurosis” (today: post traumatic stress disorder). When he returned home, he told his friends they needed to broaden their approach with another principle, having to do with “fellow feelings.”

Adler was among the first to recognize the psychological toll of war on soldiers. In January, 1918, he wrote a book on “war neuroses” which became the basis for treating soldiers suffering the emotional ravages of battle. This led him to the final “pillar” of his psychology: Gemeinschaftsgefühl, translated as “social interest,” “community feeling” or “fellow feeling.” His friend Furtmüller wrote:

“The concentration of Adler’s thinking during the war on this problem of man’s wish for human contacts and cooperation, was stirred by his contact with the ordinary soldiers, the wounded and sick in army hospitals. For them war was not a political or social problem, but a disaster that breaks upon the individual, and the individual has to go through with it like any other catastrophes of life.”

After the war, Adler and the Society renewed their activities with a new vigor. Publication of the journal was resumed, and ways were sought to integrate the concept of social interest into the larger system. Members found new arenas in which to strive. Chief among these were education, adult education, school reform, teacher training, and child guidance.

For the next several years, Adler wrote and lectured on various topics,  including child-rearing, prostitution, juvenile psychology, and pre-delinquent and delinquent youth. In 1919 he started the first of more than 35 child guidance clinics based on his methods. And that fall he began offering the first of what would become many psychology courses at People’s Institute.

Adler’s attempts to effect change in education were resisted by those wedded to the traditional ways, but the Austrian government was enthusiastically behind him, especially once they saw the positive effects. However, with Hitler’s rise in 1934, all educational reforms dating to 1919 were abolished as fostering democracy. Word of Adler was spreading beyond Austria:

An American psychiatrist, Walter Wolfe, studied under Adler and became the first American member of the Society, and translator of Adler’s books into English. A London judge visited Adler in the US and returned to England to start Adlerian guidance programs.

In 1924 Adler summarized his main ideas in The Theory and Practice of Individual Psychology. It was well-received in England and the US. Newspaper reviews were favorable. His books, based on his lectures, were welcomed as practical, positive, and connected with real-life issues. It was no wonder, then, that he was asked to come to America and speak.

Next time: Adler visits the US