On September 26th, we will begin a discussion of The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler, Volume 6, Chapters XVIII & XIX. The following chapter summaries were prepared by Manu Jaaskelainen.
Ch. XVIII
Sleeplessness (1929) begins with an important statement: before concluding that the client may have some psychological problems, one should first carefully exclude all possible physical illnesses. However, if the conclusion is that the client has some psychological problems, one should study how the insomnia fits in with the whole personality. Emotions and tensions may be especially disturbing to sleep. Some unaccomplished tasks may be the reason why the sleep is disturbed. On the other hand, insomnia may be a method to impress other people: "I have not slept since my childhood." "I sleep only three or four hours." Adler devotes some space for the tricks people use in trying to get sleep; however, these tricks do, in actual fact, disturb their sleep (e.g. counting etc.). "Sleeplessness occurs only in a situation in which a person is confronted with a problem for which he is not prepared."
Ch. XIX
The Individual Criminal and His Cure (1930g) begins with a statement on the relativity of the concept of normality: "The normal mind and normal individual do not exist. We all vary and only if we are fortunate and do not suffer from great mistakes, do we feel normal and behave rightly." All failures in life are really failures in building up a style of life. The most important task of psychology is to find out why so many people have peculiar attitudes which do not correspond with cooperation and social interest. The most important task of education is to train children in social interest. Neglected or pampered children are not able to cooperate. The paper is a study on private logic: on egoism, on greed, on the exclusion of other people. All people around the criminal are there only to satisfy the needs and cravings of this person. Many people find a feeling of superiority when they resist laws, police, and authorities in general. Adler proposes that special centers for crime prevention should be founded where "the methods of psychoanalysis, the gland specialists, the brain-pathologists, the behaviorists, and so forth should be tried and compared." Appended to this paper is summary of the ensuing discussion that is very interesting because several noted persons from the pre-WW II era in the National Committee on Prisons and Prison Labor took part in this debate. Adler's contribution was an address to this Committee.
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