Individual psychology

Individual psychology is the psychological method or science founded by the Viennese psychiatrist Alfred Adler (Fall, Holden, & Marquis, 2002). The English edition of Adler's work on the subject (1925) is a collection of papers and lectures given mainly in 1912–1914, and covers the whole range of human psychology in a single survey, intended to mirror the indivisible unity of the personality.

In developing the concept of "individual psychology" Adler broke away from the psychoanalytic school of Sigmund Freud (Dinkmeyer, Pew, & Dinkmeyer, 1979). In this development, Adler did call his work "free psychoanalysis" for a time, but he later rejected the label of "psychoanalyst" (Hoffman, 1994). His method, involving a holistic approach to the study of character (Mosak & DiPietro, 2006), has been extremely influential in later 20th century counselling and psychiatric strategies (Oberst & Stewart, 2003).

The term "individual psychology" (German: Individualpsychologie) does not mean to focus on the individual. Adler said one must take into account the patient's whole environment, including the people the patient associates with. The term "individual" is used to mean the patient is an indivisible whole.

Adler shifted the grounds of psychological determinance from sex and libido, the Freudian standpoint, to one based on the individual evaluation of world. He gave special prominence to societal factors. According to him a person has to combat or confront three forces: societal, love-related, and vocational forces. These confrontations determine the final nature of a personality. Adler based his theories on the pre-adulthood development of a person. He laid stress on such areas as hated children, physical deformities at birth, birth order, etc.

Adlerian psychology shows parallels with the humanistic psychology of Abraham Maslow, who acknowledged Adler's influence on his own theories. Both individual psychology and humanistic psychology hold that the individual human being is the best determinant of his or her own needs, desires, interests, and growth.

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