MARTIN LUTHER AND THE THEORIES OF ALFRED ADLER

King Martin Luther and the Theories of Alfred Adler



King Martin Luther and the Theories of Alfred Adler

Introduction

Adlerian therapy refers to counseling and psychotherapeutic interventions that are associated with the individual psychology of Alfred Adler (1870-1937), a Viennese psychologist and contemporary of Sigmund Freud. Individual psychology emphasizes an examination of the individual's social and cultural embeddedness, a holistic view of personality, taking personal responsibility, striving to achieve life goals, growth towards a sense of completion and belonging, and a practical approach to meeting life's challenges. Because these values are so universally shared, a wide variety of mental health professionals use classical and contemporary expressions of Adlerian therapy in their work. This paper discusses King Martin Luther within the context of the theories of Alfred Adler in a concise and comprehensive way.

King Martin Luther and the Theories of Alfred Adler

We can apply theories of Alfred Adler to Martin Luther. Adler believed that people's pursuit of their overarching life goals pulled them from positions of inferiority, inactivity, and inertness to positions of mastery and completion. Many factors affect the nature of people's life goals and the manner in which they pursue them, including heredity, pre- and perinatal influences, socioeconomic and cultural contexts, health, the family emotional environment, and school experiences. In the process of negotiating these goals (Hoffman, 1994), Adler contended, all people must address three tasks: how to find a productive work role in life, how to establish and maintain an emotionally close relationship with a life partner and family members, and how to contribute meaningfully to the community of humankind. We see such characteristics in Martin Luther.

Adlerian therapists believe that social interest leads to and is a marker of psychological health (Hoffman, 1994). The essence of social interest involves striving to achieve one's life goals while meeting life's tasks in a socially responsible and supportive manner. Some individuals, however, strive so single-mindedly after particular goals, which offer only a fleeting sense of efficacy or esteem, that life tasks go unmet and other people are viewed as obstacles that must be manipulated, mastered, or vanquished. This approach is the antithesis of healthy mental functioning (Seaman, 1998).

Martin Luther has been very active and genious since his childhood as we also that Adler believed that the roots of unhealthy goal striving developed during childhood from a confluence of variables such as dysfunctional family environments that were discouraging and disempowering, undiagnosed or untreated psychological or medical conditions, and lack of encouragement. Such conditions overwhelm the child's ability to develop a healthy lifestyle and a sense of belonging. Rudolf Dreikurs, an Adlerian scholar (Seaman, 1998), observed that under these circumstances children may act out or misbehave as a means of seeking attention, becoming more powerful, exacting revenge, or withdrawing from a task or interaction. Adults also may develop self-defeating life goals that give rise to physical or psychological symptoms and to interpersonal difficulties. Adlerian therapy seeks to determine the early-in-life causes of unhealthy, self-defeating life goals, and to reorient ...