Brief Adlerian Therapy

Are you an Adlerian Therapist?

Please complete the following quizClinical areas:

Case ConceptualizationClinical TheoryMeta-theory

Human beings are creative, thus creating their own perceptions and views of the world

Truth is created based on one’s personal perspective; therefore, it can be adaptive or maladaptiveFormal TheoryClinical StrategiesClinical Techniques

If you responded ‘yes’ to any of the questions, you might be an Adlerian Therapist!

Commonalities Clients are encouraged to overcome their feelings of insecurity,

develop deeper feelings of connectedness, and to redirect their striving for significance into more socially beneficial directions.

Using respectful Socratic dialogue, they are challenged to correct mistaken assumptions, attitudes, behaviors and feelings about themselves and the world.

Constant encouragement stimulates clients to try what was previously believed as impossible.

The growth of confidence, pride, and gratification leads to a greater desire and ability to cooperate.

The objective of therapy is to replace exaggerated self-protection, self-enhancement, and self-indulgence with courageous social contribution

Goals of Adlerian Therapy

Establish empathic relationship Equal, collaborative effort Counselor provides conditions necessary for helping

relationship Develop insight into mistaken goals & self-

defeating behaviors Understand purpose of old behavior Interpret as a lack of effectiveness

Discover alternatives & make new choices

Adlerian Therapy Techniques

Set tasks, make a commitment State goals, determine what client wants to change

Explore beliefs about self, counselor’s purpose, & expectations of counseling

Confront private logic & beliefs Discover private goals, attitudes, & beliefs Explore how these affect behaviors & their intentions,

feelings

Attend to behavior & listening

Techniques in Adlerian Therapy, continued

Goal alignment Paradoxical intention

Produce symptoms one is complaining about; become more symptomatic in order to reframe system

Reflection of feeling, empathic understanding Productive use of silence Use of tentative hypotheses & interpretation

Purpose of Brief Therapy

Clarify & resolve a narrowly focused intrapsychic conflict

Goal: provide symptom relief

Issues must be focal, limited Client selection is stringent YAVIS: young, attractive values, verbal, intelligent,

socially successful High ego strength, motivated, able to tolerate painful

affects, willing to work within therapy

Adlerian Brief Therapy

Adler originally saw clients for 20 or fewer sessions Style accommodates clients needs and style Formal course of brief therapy is both indicated

and negotiated, then brief course of treatment is followed

If long-term treatment is indicated and desired, then longer-term treatment proceeds

If at all possible, brief therapy is used

Adler BT, continued

Treatment length depends on number of factors If only one life task is addressed, therapy is

brief; if more than one then longer therapy is needed Ex: well-developed social interest can be helped in

a shorter time frame Good match between client & therapist Stressful life situations need consideration Certain types of private logic can be challenging Resistance, transference issues

Adler BT, continued

Therapist assumes client is open system striving for fulfillment Determined by interaction between innate

perceptions & early life strivings What emerges is a unified perceptual system

(i.e. master plan) called the lifestyle

Stages of ABT

Empathy-Relationship Stage Information Stage

Often concurrent with 1st stage Clarification Stage

Socratic questioning about client's core beliefs of self, others, & life

Encouragement Stage Encourage client to find courage in oneself

Interpretation & Recognition Stage

Stages of ABT, continued

Reinforcement Stage let go of selves and focus on others, tasks, &

needs of situations Community Feeling Stage

connect more with others, cooperate with them, & contribute to their welfare

Goal-Redirection Stage aspire to the ideal of what people could become

Support and Launching Stage looks forward to the unexpected in life

Stages of ABT, continued

Knowing Stage Client shares interpretations & insights

Missing Experience Stage use role-play, guided imagery, or eidetic imagery

exercises to replace past negative images with new nurturing, encouraging experiences & images

Doing Differently Stage Small, experimental steps

Comparison of Models Psychodynamic orientation

Bellak Short-Term Anxiety Provoking Psychotherapy (STAPP) (Sifneo) Time Limited Psychotherapy (Mann) Interpersonal Psychotherapy (Klerman)

Cognitive-Behavioral orientation Cognitive Therapy (Beck) Brief Behavioral Marital Therapy (Weiss & Jacobson)

Systems orientation MRI Brief Therapy Approach (Weakland)

Brief Family Therapy & Solution Focused Therapy (de Shazer)

Experiential orientation Brief Interpersonal-Developmental-Experiential Therapy (Budman) Adlerian Approach (Adler)

Applications

Examples include parenting, marital relationships, and career choice and development.

These interventions can help individuals cope with developmental milestones, life crises, and change points in their lives.

Adler developed models to be used in schools as a way to foster healthy development in children