Freud’s Influence

The idea of the inferiority complex bears some similarity to the writings of
many previous thinkers. Nineteenth century French psychologist Pierre
Janet came closest by developing a theory of perceived insufficiency as a
root of all neurosis. American psychologistWilliam James spoke of an innate
craving to be appreciated. Adler’s emphasis on the individual’s capacity for
compensation (a defense mechanism for overcoming feelings of inferiority
by trying harder to excel) and on masculine protest has parallels in the writings
of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.
The optimistic, simplified, psychosocial approach of Alfred Adler can
only be understood as a reaction to the pessimistic, esoteric, psychosexual
approach of Sigmund Freud. Adler was a respected general practitioner in
Vienna. He heard his first lecture on psychoanalysis in 1899 and was fascinated,
although he never regarded himself as a student or disciple of Freud.
He was invited to join the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society, and did so in 1902,
but he was never psychoanalyzed himself. By the end of the decade, he had
become president of the society and editor of its journal. As Adler’s own theories
developed, and as he voiced them within the psychoanalytic association,
Freud became increasingly defensive.
Adler came to criticize several underpinnings of psychoanalytic theory.
For example, he suggested that the Oedipus complex was merely the reaction
of a pampered child, not a universal complex. Adler saw dysfunctional
sexual attitudes and practices as a symptom of the underlying neurosis, not
as its underlying cause. When Adler would not recant his heresy, the Vienna
Psychoanalytic Society was split into a Freudian majority and an Adlerian minority.
For a brief period, the Adlerians retained the term “psychoanalysis,”
only later defining their school as individual psychology.
Freud’s influence on Adler can be seen in the emphasis on the importance
of early childhood and on the ideas that the motives that underlie
neurosis are outside conscious awareness (private logic) and that it is only
through insight into these motives that cure can be attained. It is largely in
Adler’s reaction against Freud, however, that Adler truly defined himself.
He saw Freud as offering a mechanistic system in which individuals merely
react according to instincts and their early childhood environment; Adler
believed that individuals have choices about their futures. He saw Freud as
emphasizing universal themes that are rigidly repeated in each patient;
Adler believed that people fashion their unique styles of life. Adler saw
Freud as being focused on the intrapsychic; Adler himself emphasized the
interpersonal, social field.
While Freud’s personality theory has been the best remembered, Adler’s
has been the most rediscovered. In the 1940’s, holistic theorists such as Kurt
Lewin and Kurt Goldstein reiterated Adler’s emphasis on the individual’s
subjective and comprehensive approach to perceptions. In the 1960’s, humanistic
theorists such as Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers rediscovered
Adler’s emphasis on individuals overcoming the conditions of their childhood and striving toward a self-actualization and potential to love. In the
1980’s, cognitive theorists such as Albert Ellis, Aaron Beck, and Martin E. P.
Seligman emphasized how individuals perceive and understand their situation
as the central element underlying psychopathology.