Chapter 38: Adlerian Counseling:

Adlerian counseling views humans as holistic, creative, and responsible beings. Persons are not static but forward moving toward subjective, self-created goals within one’s cognitive life-map known as the lifestyle or style of life. Feelings of inferiority, a common thread among all human beings, may lead to faulty convictions about oneself, others, and the world, which can result in self-defeating behaviors. In the Adlerian view, maladjusted persons are not sick but “discouraged.” That is, they lack sufficient courage to face the tasks of life. The counselor’s role is to encourage the person, to activate social interest, and to help the individual develop a socially useful style of living through relationship, investigation, and action methods. Adlerians are not interested in curing “sick” individuals, groups, or communities, but in reeducating individuals and in reshaping society so that all people can live together as equals (Carlson, Watts, & Maniacci, 2006; Mosak & Maniacci, 2011).