Re: Cumulative Discussion of CCWAA, Volume 3, Chapters I-XII
Rita, to my knowledge, it is improbable that an individual would be able to identify his/her own fictional final goal (even a Classical Adlerian psychotherapist in training needs a study-analyst to provide this insight). Essentially, the goal needs to remain unconscious so that it is protected from critical analysis (it is almost sacred, promising subjectively imagined success, significance, and security). Uncovering this goal is quite an art, and can only be done after eliciting a relevant history of the individual. Positing this goal represents a creative act in the life of the individual, and discovering it requires the creative intuition of the therapist. Also, the style of life, (the repetitive approaches to life's tasks) needs to examined for the real benefits or burdens to the individual and others.
It is fascinating to explore options for solving life's problems with a client, and discover that an individual in the grip of his own fictional final goal, cannot think of alternative strategies that do not lead to his goal. After these alternatives are discovered (Socratically), he/she may admit that they make sense, but they then usually have an emotional resistance to putting these alternatives into practice.
Some varieties of Adlerian therapy consider it sufficient for a client to become aware of his/her goal and perhaps make modest alterations of the style of life attached to it. Classical Adlerian psychotherapy offers the opportunity to "dissolve" both, and function at a higher level of creative "growth motivation" (described eloquently by Abraham Maslow).
Neurosis is indeed a failure of personal growth. The individual stops short of their best human potential, usually because they are confronted with problems that cannot be solved in line with their current direction. Consequently, stress and symptoms develop that may become excuses to avoid the difficulty. The retention and exploitation of theses symptoms is generally what constitutes a neurosis. Therapies that merely address symptoms, do no more than blow away the smoke, without putting out the fire. (In theses cases, it is not uncommon for a new symptom to appear after the old one has been extinguished; all of the symtoms could serve the same purpose.)
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