I was in Tokyo to give a lecture. Two hundred people came; most of them were young mothers. Tokyo has a quite different culture to Osaka. Osaka people are open and frank, sometimes vulgar, while Tokyo people are polite and courteous, sometimes pretentious. I tried to be polite and courteous as possible as I could. As a result, I was absolutely exhausted. Fortunately, reputation of the lecture seemed to be very good.
Movement of Adlerian Psychology in Tokyo was once destroyed into ruin [1]. Some people, who were my students, developed a mistaken interpretation, and taught mothers how to manipulate their children through a technique called the Logical Consequences. Many families were damaged by their teaching. I criticized them, but they did not listen to me. Unfairly enough, they evaded discussing with me in official occasions, and spoke ill of me in a shade. In the struggle with them, I translated a paper of Jane Nelsen, in which she claimed the danger of the technique [2]. In 1998, I invited her, and she gave us some lectures. Those lectures were very helpful to think what was on earth the child rearing on Adlerian Pscychology. I designed a programmed course for parenting named, “Passage”. By and by the problem was solved and healthy parenting came back to us.
The people who misused the Adlerian technique had another problem. That was eclecticism. They mixed up Adlerian Psychology with everything; from Psychoanalysis to Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, or from Tantric Buddhism to fortune-telling. Similar problem is known in Europe [3] and in the USA [4]. I believe we should decide the identity of Adlerian Psychology. I wrote many papers and a book to clarify my opinion. As always, an enemy is the best friend to a worrier.
In 1999 I made an office in Tokyo to re-establish the movement. I worked there with two Walküre-s in the picture. After long struggles, we succeeded to have many new colleagues to work with. After seven years, in 2006, I closed the office. Now my beautiful Walküre-s are getting a little bit older. Still they are reliable leaders in this district, but we need younger power. The main purpose of today’s lecture is to get new students who will be the core of the next generation.
[1] Nakajima, H. et. al.: Individual Psychology in Japan. The Adlerian, 13(3): 146, 2000.
[2] Nelsen, J.: The Three R’s of Logical Consequences, the Three R’s of Punishment, and the Six Steps for Winning Children Over. Individual Psychology, 41(2):161, 1985.
[3] Erklärung zur individualpsychologischen Identität der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Individualpsychologie. Zeitschrift für Individualpsychologie, 25(4): 364, 2000.
[4] Sperry, L.: To Be or Not To Be Adlerian: The Personal and Organizational Dynamics of Establishing One’s Theoretical Orientation. Journal of Individual Psychology, 63(2): 126, 2007.