In need of a 250 word response/discussion to each of the following forum posts. Agreement/disagreement/and/or continuing the discussion.
Original forum discussion/topic post is as follows:
Critique the strengths and weaknesses of either Adlerian Psychotherapy or Client-Centered Therapy. Choose an issue such as empirical support, practicality, consistency, etc.
Forum post #1
This week we really began to dive into the different types and manners of psychotherapy that are available.
I chose to discuss Adlerian Psychotherapy. Adlerian psychotherapy is a type of psychotherapy that looks at the whole life and environment of an individual to figure out why that individual feels or acts a certain way. For example, if a person seeks help via Adlerian psychotherapy for anxiety, the psychotherapy involves looking at when they have these anxious feelings, what their childhood was like, what order they were in birth in comparison to their siblings, and what the purpose of their anxiety is. Our book discusses, at length, that finding a purpose for a feeling or action is a significant part of Adlerian psychotherapy. Adlerian psychotherapy is very socially based. For example, unsuccessful outcomes are those that are seen as quiet, don’t communicate, or even competitive. Successful people are those that think of others, treat others with kindness, and look to help others in society. It is difficult for me to state whether Adlerians would view salespeople as having normal or abnormal development. On one hand, salespeople are very good communicators and are very personable. However, salespeople can be extremely competitive and focus mainly on how they can be more successful.
Adlerian psychotherapy is also characterized by the individuality that it can offer to its’ clients. Because Adlerian psychotherapy involves in-depth discussions between the client and therapist regarding their birth order, family life, environment growing up, current environment, why they feel a certain way, etc., individuals not only receive an individualized experience, but they also develop a strong relationship with their therapist. Because each client is treated with such attention to detail, one person that walks in with problems due to anxious feelings may receive a completely different course of Adlerian psychotherapy than another individual that walks in with anxious feelings. This would be due to the fact that the details of their life and environment differ from each other.
Although I have mentioned multiple strengths of Adlerian psychotherapy, there are some negatives. For example, in terms of evidence based theory, because Adlerian psychotherapy is so individualized to the client, it is difficult for therapists to follow current evidence based therapies that are available. This could perhaps be due to current therapies not being appropriate for the situation, which the therapist would have assessed due to the strong relationship formed with the client through Adlerian psychotherapy, or because the relationship between the client and therapist is so much more in-depth than the modern therapies that evidence based research is completed on, that there is no evidence based research that can be applied to certain Adlerian psychotherapy situations/assessments. However, the individual parts of Adlerian psychotherapy, when broken down, are evidence based. For example, Adlerian psychotherapy assesses an individual in regards to the order of their birth within their family. Birth order has been researched, and as our book states, has been shown to be valid (Wedding & Corsini, 2013).
Adlerian psychotherapy is such an abstract process, that I’m hoping my forum post is understandable to the rest of the class. It seems that there are so many aspects of this psychotherapy form that multiple pages could be written about it!
Forum post #2
I hope everyone is off to a great week. For this week’s forum we are asked to critique either Adlerian Psychotherapy of Client-Centered Therapy. I chose to evaluate Adlerian Psychotherapy, which was developed by Alfred Adler around 1930s and 1940s. The therapy incorporates 12 key principles, which support each other: holism, teleology, creativity, phenomenology, soft determinism, social field theory, motivation as striving, idiographic orientation, psychology of use, acting “as if”, self-fulfilling prophecy, and optimism. At first, it seems like a lot of areas to consider, but it really is just a way of thinking about how people operate and most of the principles support each other.
Therapy sessions are structured in that they follow five main areas: identifying information, presenting the problem, relevant history related to the problem, current functioning, and treatment expectations. Infamous approaches or techniques are “the question” and “guessing”. The question forces the client to identify how his or her life would be better without certain symptoms. It highlights true desires of the client. As for guessing, this technique allows the therapist to share his or her hypothesis without being so direct. Secondly, it allows the client to make corrections or provide further evidence to support the hypothesis. Another important area is modeling. The relationship formed by the client and therapist models a positive relationship. Additionally, if the therapist makes a mistake, he or she models how not everyone is perfect.
A major strength with Adlerian therapy is that it can support anyone’s needs because it is so flexible. I think a major benefit of Adlerian Psychotherapy is that it does not operate in a black and white world, but in considers the gray areas or unique situations to people’s issues. Furthermore, it does not focus solely on the diagnosis, but the whole person.
There are a lot of strengths with Adlerian therapy; however, in some of the strengths lie weaknesses. A major emphasis is placed on the relationship between client and therapist and the success of therapy lies on the foundation of the relationship. Most types of therapies value the client-therapist relationship, but with Adlerian therapy the dialogue is reliant on that relationship. Another challenge is that Adlerian therapy is difficult to research because it does not fit into standard research templates.
Last, Adlerian therapy has remained consistent over the years with very little change to the basic assumptions that form the theory. For instance, the principle of social field theory has not changed, but social views have, especially regarding homosexuality. Homosexuality was never a major issue because as part of theory, the focus is on humanity. Adlerian therapists encourage respect of all people and treating others fairly and with compassion.
Forum post #3
I believe that Adlerian therapy is adapt and extremely beneficial in providing therapeutic interventions for people. His underlining Psychotherapy approach tends to allow for understanding that is much more individual. He believed that it was imperative to become intimately familiar with a person’s social context by exploring factors such as birth order, lifestyle, and parental education. Adler believed that each person strives to belong and feel significant (Good Therapy, 2007). He believed that understanding where a person’s understanding of their world and how they see themselves in it helps to shape them personally. His approach gives credence to each individuals own perception about their world and how they see themselves or their surroundings. To me, Adlerian gives a much more “Holistic” vantage point for client. However, this entire approach is dependent upon how the therapists interacts, facilitates the sessions, and communicates with their patient/client. As we know therapy
Whereas Client centered therapy is a different approach. Client-centered therapy, also known as person-centered therapy, is a non-directive form of talk therapy, which was developed by psychologist Carl Rogers (Cherry, 2018). Client Centered Therapy, is more client driven and less shaped by the therapist, in terms of where the session may go. This approach is non- directive, clients are free to speak and move the conversation at their own pace. It is important for the counselor/therapist to remain as positive and supportive as possible. As we know, most therapeutic approaches normally look for direction from the therapist, guiding the client to their answers. This approach is different. As a guidance counselor myself, it is my obligation to listen to me students and allow them to share. I will ask questions but I try to encourage my students by simply doing more listening that speaking. It is imperative that when you as the therapist/counselor do share, you share honestly and model the type of responses for your client. This is very important in Client centered therapy.
In comparison, I do find the Client Centered approach to be more applicable in my profession. Adlerian therapy does have its merits but the issue with understanding cultural differences or inherit biases on behalf of the therapist can be problematic. Both are can be very beneficial as a tool for a therapist/counselor. I just believe that it is very hard to keep your own judgments positive when dealing with clients. Those who are able to do that, tend to be the better therapists.
