On March 20th, we will begin a discussion of The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler, Volume 8, Chapters V & VI. The following chapter summaries were prepared by Manu Jaaskelainen.
In Ch V
Postgraduate Lecture No. 5 Adler continues his discussion on stuttering. Adler says that stuttering is a good example how neurosis works. Some people stop stuttering when they grow up. Some people continue their life with neurotic symptoms. Adler does not accept the idea of transference as a therapeutic method. "The patient is not changed" (by transference), but only by identifying and correcting his mistakes--neurotic problems are problems of cooperation. Next, Adler proceeds to give fifteen case examples of stuttering, noting that the clients use stuttering under conditions of stress. These people always have some reinforcement from others to continue the symptom.
Ch VI
Postgraduate Lecture No. 6 is a presentation on further problems in medical psychology. Adler discusses some neurotic problems of childhood, because all children are the real makers of the grown-up personalities. In many senses, these lectures are the most clinical texts Adler ever wrote, and also the most difficult to comprehend, so no quick conclusions may be made on the basis of these summaries. In this lecture, Adler studies enuresis nocturna, discussing this problem from the viewpoint of psychology. Today, we know that there may be some medical conditions behind this. There may be also some social and cultural conventions--at least this problem is not as important today as it was in Adler's time. There is in general much less discussion around this. Adler thinks that enuresis is way of expressing hostility against the organized rules of the social order. Some children may want to be centers of attention, and they want to intrude. So enuresis is a way of keeping others busy with them. Adler thinks that enuresis is a symptom of possible neurosis, and it may mean that that this child has a disposition to have neurotic problems later on. As such, these symptoms usually cease when the child grows older. This problem was more important in Adler's times than it is today. Adler tells us that some cities had hospitals just for these children. One may conclude that the social living conditions in Vienna, as well as in other cities of the western world, were much worse a century ago than they are today.
To order your copy of Volume 8, go to
http://go.ourworld.nu/hstein/cwaa-v8.htm .