The East Japan Local Congress of the Japanese Society of Adlerian Psychology will be held tomorrow, and, today, I gave a lecture for the Pre-Congress. The topic was “Understanding Adlerian Psychology in the Core Situation”. I explained how basic concepts of Adlerian Psychology were formed in the clinical situation. I gave some examples of early recollections from my patients, and explained how to analyze them and how to help patients to recover the mental health.
The Adlerian method of psychotherapy is to develop patients’ Social Interest. Adler realized that the process of psychotherapy was useful not only to cure individuals but also to cure the society. Erich Fromm wrote a book, “The Sane Society”. The Adlerian philosophy, I believe, is the one of the best method to bring about the sanity into the society.
I showed a slide at the end of my lecture.
To actualize the sane society, it is necessary
To accept the fact that the human beings are imperfect,
To accept the fact that there are something we cannot know,
To accept the fact that there are something we cannot attain.
To accept the differences between people and not to try to be the same,
To accept the necessity to talk with each other to mutually understand,
And to have gratitude to what is beyond the human beings.
150 people came. I was a little bit anxious whether the audiences could understand my story. Half of them were beginners and the technique of Life-Style analysis from early recollections might not be familiar to them. Fortunately they understood my story well and gave me big applause.