Birth Order and Sibling Relationships
Phase 2: Explore the Individual’s Psychological Dynamics
The aim of the second phase of Adlerian counseling is to get a deeper under- standing of an individual’s lifestyle. During this assessment phase, the focus is on the individual’s social and cultural context. Rather than attempting to fi t clients into a preconceived model, Adlerian practitioners allow salient cultural identity concepts to emerge in the therapy process, and these issues are then addressed (Carlson & Englar-Carlson, 2008). This assessment phase proceeds from two interview forms: the subjective interview and the objective interview (Dreikurs, 1997). In the subjective interview, the counselor helps the client to tell his or her life story as completely as possible. This process is facilitated by a generous use of empathic listening and responding. Active listening, how- ever, is not enough. The subjective interview must follow from a sense of won- der, fascination, and interest. What the client says will spark an interest in the counselor and lead, naturally, to the next most signifi cant question or inquiry about the client and his or her life story. Indeed, the best subjective interviews treat clients as experts in their own lives, allowing clients to feel completely heard. Throughout the subjective interview, the Adlerian counselor is listening for clues to the purposive aspects of the client’s coping and approaches to life.
“The subjective interview should extract patterns in the person’s life, develop hypotheses about what works for the person, and determine what accounts for the various concerns in the client’s life” (Bitter et al., 1998, p. 98). Toward the end of this part of the interview, Adlerian brief therapists ask: “Is there any- thing else you think I should know to understand you and your concerns?”
An initial assessment of the purpose that symptoms, actions, or diffi cul- ties serve in a person’s life can be gained from what Dreikurs (1997) calls “The Question.” Adlerians often end a subjective interview with this question: “How would your life be different, and what would you be doing differently, if you did not have this symptom or problem?” Adlerians use this question to help with differential diagnosis. More often, the symptoms or problems experienced by the client help the client avoid something that is perceived as necessary but from which the person wishes to retreat, usually a life task: “If it weren’t for my
depression, I would get out more and see my friends.” Such a statement betrays the client’s concern about the possibility of being a good friend or being wel- comed by his or her friends. “I need to get married, but how can I with these panic attacks?” indicates the person’s worry about being a partner in a mar- riage. Depression can serve as the client’s solution when faced with problems in relationships. If a client reports that nothing would be different, especially with physical symptoms, Adlerians suspect that the problem may be organic and require medical intervention.
The objective interview seeks to discover information about (a) how prob- lems in the client’s life began; (b) any precipitating events; (c) a medical history, including current and past medications; (d) a social history; (e) the reasons the client chose therapy at this time; (f) the person’s coping with life tasks; and (g) a lifestyle assessment. Mozdzierz and his colleagues (1986) describe the counselor as a “lifestyle investigator” during this phase of therapy. Based on interview approaches developed by Adler and Dreikurs, the lifestyle assess- ment starts with an investigation of the person’s family constellation and early childhood history ((Eckstein & Baruth, 1996; Powers & Griffi th, 1987; Shulman
& Mosak, 1988). Counselors also interpret the person’s early memories, seeking to understand the meaning that she or he has attached to life experiences. They operate on the assumption that it is the interpretations people develop about themselves, others, the world, and life that govern what they do. Lifestyle as- sessment seeks to develop a holistic narrative of the person’s life, to make sense of the way the person copes with life tasks, and to uncover the private interpre- tations and logic involved in that coping. For example, if Jenny has lived most of her life in a critical environment, and now she believes she must be perfect to avoid even the appearance of failure, the assessment process will highlight the restricted living that follows from this perspective.
THE FAMILY CONSTELLATION Adler considered the family of origin as hav- ing a central impact on an individual’s personality. Adler suggested that it was through the family constellation that each person forms his or her unique view of self, others, and life. Factors such as cultural and familial values, gender-role expectations, and the nature of interpersonal relationships are all infl uenced by a child’s observation of the interactional patterns within the family. Adle- rian assessment relies heavily on an exploration of the client’s family constella- tion, including the client’s evaluation of conditions that prevailed in the family when the person was a young child (family atmosphere), birth order, parental relationship and family values, and extended family and culture. Some of these questions are almost always explored:
• Who was the favorite child?
• What was your father’s relationship with the children? Your mother’s?
• Which child was most like your father? Your mother? In what respects?
• Who among the siblings was most different from you? In what ways?
• Who among the siblings was most like you? In what ways?
• What were you like as a child?
• How did your parents get along? In what did they both agree? How did they handle disagreements? How did they discipline the children?
An investigation of family constellation is far more comprehensive than these few questions, but these questions give an idea of the type of information the counselor is seeking. The questions are always tailored to the individual client with the goal of eliciting the client’s perceptions of self and others, of de- velopment, and of the experiences that have affected that development.
EARLY RECOLLECTIONS As you will recall, another assessment procedure used by Adlerians is to ask the client to provide his or her earliest memories, including the age of the person at the time of the remembered events and the feelings or reactions associated with the recollections. Early recollections are one-time occurrences pictured by the client in clear detail. Adler reasoned that out of the millions of early memories we might have we select those special memories that project the essential convictions and even the basic mistakes of our lives. Early recollections are a series of small mysteries that can be woven together and provide a tapestry that leads to an understanding of how we view ourselves, how we see the world, what our life goals are, what motivates us, what we value and believe in, and what we anticipate for our future (Clark, 2002; Mosak & Di Pietro, 2006).
Early memories cast light on the “story of our life” because they represent metaphors for our current views. From a series of early recollections, it is pos- sible to get a clear sense of our mistaken notions, present attitudes, social in- terests, and possible future behavior. Early recollections are specifi c instances that clients tell therapists, and they are very useful in understanding those who are sharing a story (Mosak & Di Pietro, 2006). Exploring early recollections in- volves discovering how mistaken notions based on faulty goals and values con- tinue to create problems in an individual’s life.
To tap such recollections, the counselor might proceed as follows: “I would like to hear about your early memories. Think back to when you were very young as early as you can remember (before the age of 10), and tell me something that happened one time.” After receiving each memory, the counselor might also ask:
“What part stands out to you? What was the most vivid part of your early mem- ory? If you played the whole memory like a movie and stopped it at one frame, what would be happening? Putting yourself in that moment, what are you feel- ing? What’s your reaction?” Three memories are usually considered a minimum to assess a pattern, and some counselors ask for as many as a dozen memories.
Adlerian therapists use early recollections for many different purposes.
These include (a) assessment of the person’s convictions about self, others, life, and ethics; (b) assessment of the client’s stance in relation to the counsel- ing session and the counseling relationship; (c) verifi cation of coping patterns;
and (d) assessment of individual strengths, assets, and interfering ideas (Bitter et al., 1998, p. 99).
In interpreting these early recollections, Adlerians may consider questions such as these:
• What part does the person take in the memory? Is the person an observer or a participant?
• Who else is in the memory? What position do others take in relation to the person?
• What are the dominant themes and overall patterns of the memories?
• What feelings are expressed in the memories?
• Why does the person choose to remember this event? What is the person trying to convey?
INTEGR ATION AND SUMMARY Once material has been gathered from both subjective and objective interviews with the client, integrated summaries of the data are developed. Different summaries are prepared for different clients, but common ones are a narrative summary of the person’s subjective experi- ence and life story; a summary of family constellation and developmental data;
a summary of early recollections, personal strengths or assets, and interfering ideas; and a summary of coping strategies. The summaries are presented to the client and discussed in the session, with the client and the counselor together refi ning specifi c points. This provides the client with the chance to discuss spe- cifi c topics and to raise questions.
Mosak and Maniacci (2008) believe lifestyle can be conceived of as a per- sonal mythology. People behave as if the myths were true because, for them, they are true. Mosak and Maniacci list fi ve basic mistakes in what is essentially an integration of Adlerian psychology and cognitive behavioral theory:
1. Overgeneralizations: “There is no fairness in the world.”
2. False or impossible goals of security: “I must please everyone if I am to feel loved.”
3. Misperceptions of life and life’s demands: “Life is so very diffi cult for me.”
4. Minimization or denial of one’s basic worth: “I’m basically stupid, so why would anyone want anything to do with me?”
5. Faulty values: “I must get to the top, regardless of who gets hurt in the pro- cess.”
As another example of a summary of basic mistakes, consider this list of mis- taken notions that are evident in Stan’s autobiography (see Chapter 1):
• “Don’t get close to people, especially women, because they will suffocate and control you if they can.” (overgeneralization)
• “I was not really wanted by my parents, and therefore it is best for me to become invisible.” (denial of one’s basic worth)
• “It is extremely important that people like me and approve of me; I’ll bend over backwards to do what people expect.” (false or impossible goals)
In addition to the concept of basic mistakes, Adlerian theory is useful in assist- ing clients to identify and examine some of their common fears. These fears include being imperfect, being vulnerable, being disapproved of, and suffering from past regrets (Carlson & Englar-Carlson, 2008).
The Student Manual that accompanies this textbook gives a concrete ex- ample of the lifestyle assessment as it is applied to the case of Stan. In Case Approach to Counseling and Psychotherapy (Corey, 2009, chap. 3), Drs. Jim Bitter and Bill Nicoll present a lifestyle assessment of another hypothetical client, Ruth.