Social Interest: Adler`s Key to the Meaning of Life

Social Interest-the book
'Social interest' or 'community feeling'
Adler's thought and inspiration
Adler and Freud - 'Everything can be something else as well'
Key concepts in the book
The creative power of the individual
Law of movement
The three handicaps of childhood
The life tasks and social interest
Psychosomatic illness
Individual (Adlerian) psychology - an overview
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
1 OUR CONCEPTION OF OURSELVES AND
THE WORLD
Life style and beliefs
Life-a matter of 'fact'?
2 THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO
INVESTIGATING LIFE STYLE
The intuitive approach
The philosophical approach
The scientific approach
Psychoanalysis and Individual Psychology
How Individual Psychology approaches personality and life style
The inferiority and superiority complexes and social interest
3 THE TASKS OF LIFE
Facing life's problems
Social interest-childhood beginnings
The pampered child
What else can hinder the growth of social interest?
Family relationships
Childhood illness
Social interest at school
Sexual awakening
Communal life
Work
Love, marriage, and children
Withdrawal from social interest
Other tests of social interest
4 THE PROBLEM OF BODY AND SOUL
An evolutionary perspective
Mental equilibrium is constantly threatened
How mind and body influence one another
A case study
5 FORM, MOVEMENT, AND CHARACTER
A 'scientific' look at the human 'form'
The meaning of physical form
The meaning of movement
6 THE INFERIORITY COMPLEX
Inadequacy - the impulse for development
The sense of inferiority in child development
Aggression
The place of social interest in humanity's progress
Critical behaviour
Social interest and emotional development
The effects of lack of social interest
Neurosis and psychosomatic disorders
Individual behaviour
The inferiority complex
7 THE SUPERIORITY COMPLEX
Characteristics of the superiority complex (1)
Social implications of the superiority complex
Characteristics of the superiority complex (2)
A word of caution
Further reflections
8 TYPES OF MALADJUSTMENT
Types and individuals
Problem children
Neurosis
Suicide
Criminal tendencies
Addiction
9 THE UNREAL WORLD OF THE PAMPERED
Childhood beginnings
Each case is unique
Early relationships and life style
Characteristics of pampered individuals
Advantages of Individual Psychology's approach
10 WHAT REALLY IS A NEUROSIS?
A problem of definition
Neurosis and the sense of inferiority
Explaining the symptoms of neurosis
Causes and dynamics of neurosis
Dreams
Conclusions
11 SEXUAL DEVIANCE
Different psychological approaches
Individual Psychology's approach
The development of sexual deviance in individuals
Interpreting the evidence - a case study
Concluding remarks
12 EARLIEST CHILDHOOD MEMORIES
The unity of the ego
Memory and life style
Freud misses the point
Case studies
13 SOCIALLY OBSTRUCTIVE SITUATIONS IN
CHILDHOOD AND THEIR REMOVAL
Family relationships
Childhood illness
Sex education
Position in the family group
The only child
The firstborn
The second child
The youngest child
Areas for further research
14 DAYDREAMS AND NIGHT DREAMS
Imagination's role in life style
Creativity
Imagination and the goal of superiority
Understanding dreams
The Freudian theory of dreams - a critique
Dreams maintain a distance from social interest
Metaphor and simile in dream imagery
The relationship between dreams and life
Some observations on Freudian symbolism
15 THE MEANING OF LIFE
Cosmos and evolution: the setting for human life
Individual Psychology as a view of the universe
Social Inter
Social interest: our pathway to harmony with the universe
16 ADDENDUM - CONSULTANT AND PATIENT
First impressions of the patient
Do's and don'ts
Ethical issues
Additional points
QUESTIONNAIRE FOR INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGISTS 218
GLOSSARY OF KEY TERMS
REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING
Books by Alfred Adler
Books about Alfred Adler and his work
INDEX