Alfred Adler (1870-1937) graduated from the University of Vienna medical school in 1895, he at first practiced ophthalmology but later switched to psychiatry. In 1902 Adler was invited by Freud to join the discussion group that later became the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society- rising in its ranks to eventually become its president and editor of its journal. However, after 1907 Adler's growing disagreement with Freud's theories, especially with their heavy emphasis on the role of sexuality in personality formation, alienated him from the ranks of Freudians. In 1911, Adler and his followers left the Psychoanalytic Society to form their own group and develop the system of Individual Psychology, a holistic, humanistic therapeutic approach that views the individual as primarily a social rather than a sexual being and which is optimistic about human change and choice. Adler died suddenly in 1937 in Aberdeen, Scotland, while on a lecture tour. Today there are more than 100 professional Adlerian organizations and 34 training institutes in the United States, Canada, and Europe. The Adlerian Society of Wales was founded in 2003.

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WHAT IS ADLERIAN COUNSELLING ?

Adlerian Counselling has been successfully applied in many situations - bereavement, divorce, family issues, pressures of work, bullying, depression and eating disorders etc. Adler believed that as children, because of our smallness, lack of knowledge and experience, we develop feelings of inferiority living in an adult world. As we grow up, both in size and skill, for many of us those feelings of inferiority disperse in time- until the pressures of life overwhelm us. When this happens we mentally revisit our childhood feelings and find it difficult to review or consider the full range of options open to us to solve the problem that confronts us. We get stuck! Adlerian counsellors help clients by looking at their early memories before the age of 7 and working skillfully with these memories about family, brothers and sisters etc. Adler made the point that our memories are selective.Out of the thousands of memories we could have chosen to recall, we actually remember only a few and these have been selected because they are important subconscious prompts for the way we develop our view of ourselves and the world around us. To understand our inner psychological journey gives insight into why we act and feel the way we do and that insight becomes the springboard for personal change.