The Drive For Self: Alfred Adler And The Founding Of Individual Psychology

by Edward Hoffman

As the founding father of Individual Psychology, ranked alongside Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung as one of the world's most inspired social thinkers, Alfred Adler fashioned a new understanding of personality that took the search for self out of the shadows of Freudian gloom and placed it firmly in the hands of the individual. Here at last is the first major biography of a man who has had a profound influence not only on modern and popular psychology but on the very way we think about ourselves.
From Adler's early life in fin de siecle Vienna, to his break with psychoanalysis and later life in America, The Drive for Self offers a compelling portrait of both the man and his times. An early intimate of Freud and his inner circle, Adler was one of the original four participants in the Wednesday Psychological Society that became the nucleus for worldwide psychoanalysis. Impressed with Adler's brilliance, Freud referred many patients to him, including his own brother-in-law and by 1910 Adler was appointed president of their psychoanalytic group and editor of their professional journal. Yet slowly and steadily, the relationship between the two brilliant men deteriorated into bitter and lifelong enmity, as Adler refused to toe the psychoanalytic line. When Adler directly challenged basic psychoanalytic dogma about unconscious motivation and childhood sexuality, an outraged Freud removed him from his presidential and editorial posts. Hoffman throws new light on Freud by examining in depth the intense and often venomous relationship that existed between the two men - revealing both Freud's misuse of power and Adler's courage in defying both Freud and his powerful circle to begin his own school of thought.
Individual Psychology ultimately reflects the life of its founder. Optimistic at its core, it focuses on the uniqueness of each person, describing us as primarily social, not biological beings. Far from being driven by forces we cannot see or control, we actively direct and create our own growth, our own future. Such is the way Adler From his middle-class Jewish boyhood as a small sickly child in Vienna and an early encounter with death, to his pledge to become a healer and eventual achievement of international recognition, Adler overcame feelings of inferiority and strove for a sense of accomplishment, or what he called superiority. Here in Adler's life is the basis for so many of his theories and terms, including such popular phrases as the inferiority complex, over-compensation, and life-style, that now permeate modern psychology, education, psychotherapy, consulting, and social work, as well as our very perceptions of our own lives.
With a cast of characters that includes Trotsky and Nijinsky, and set in a time of great social upheaval and change in both Europe and America, The Drive for Self is a fascinating read. Pulling from hitherto unpublished archival materials as well as extensive interviews with Adler's two surviving children, Dr. Hoffman has given us an intense and compelling portrait of a man whose impassioned life's work has proven beneficial to the world.

Genres: Psychology, Biography, Counselling

590 pages, Hardcover

First published December 12, 1991

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Reviews

[Shelby M. (Read and Find Out) · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Reading this was a slog for me, as I think that there were often entire sections that could have been cut out. It seemed like the book spent as much time discussing what was happening in the world as it did actually documenting Adler's life. That being said, I do feel renewed in my theoretical orientation, and annoyed by the many concepts that he created (which are almost never attributed to him). Adler truly was the forerunner of the humanistic and existential movements in psychology and counseling. As a future school counselor, it's no wonder that I was drawn to his theory. His emphasis on child guidance and education fit perfectly within the school counseling profession. I'm a proud Adlerian (as everyone in my cohort is well aware)! :)

[Frank Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has a good chronology of Adler's life and a good summary of his work. I didn't realize that he was as popular as he was in the 1920s in the USA. It is interesting that others did so much of the writing of his books. He lectured a lot,and the lectures were turned into books by others. His success was bolstered by support by wealthy ex-clients and friends. During the last weeks of his life, his daughter was missing in Russia, and he never knew what happened to her. In his Psychodynamics course (1973!) Julian Rotter covered Adler positively and extensively. He listed him as one of four influences on his Social Learning Theory. Adler's influence on educational theory, parenting and child guidance was massive. I'll probably read some more books by and about him.