On June 6th, we will begin a discussion of The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler, Volume 5, Chapters XVII-XIX. The following chapter summaries were prepared by Manu Jaaskelainen.
Chapter XVII
Problem Children and Neurotic Adults (1924) is a short study on growing-up of the so-called problem children. Adler says that the psychological dynamics of problem children and neurotic adults is basically the same. "From an all too-low self-evaluation came a striving for significance that lost its way and we recognized in these two ways of life instead of a straight-line progression and a socially valuable solution to the problems of life, an evading and hesitating attitude seeking egocentrically ameliorating circumstances in order to hide the secret of a presumed worthlessness."
Chapter XVIII
Individual psychology and World View - II (1924) continues the argument of the chapter VIII. This chapter is, in fact, a report written down by Sophie Freudenberg on the meeting of Individual Psychologists in 1924 in Nurnberg. The chapter has in its hading a citation from a presentation by Leonhard Seif. Adler held the introductory speech. He emphasized the importance of the communal feeling, and the adequate preparation for life. "Discouraged people meet the demands of life in a way that considers only their own feelings of weakness."
Chapter XIX
Marriage as a Mutual Task (1925) was originally published in the book that discussed the problems of marriage, edited by Count Keyserling. The book contains a number of interesting contributions, one by Alfred Adler (there is also a contribution by Carl G. Jung). In the chapter Adler argues that marriage is a mutual task, that human beings are really fellow human beings. There are responsibilities in the marriage. Adler thinks that a marriage should always provide a model for the children. "The decision to marry ought to spring from a striving for humaneness."
To order your copy of Volume 5, go to
http://go.ourworld.nu/hstein/cwaa-v5.htm .