Adler and Camus: A comparison between individual psychology and existential psychology in theory and practice (Alfred Adler, Albert Camus)

This dissertation compared and contrasted the Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler and Existential Psychology, focusing on the works of Albert Camus, but also examining the writings of Ludwig Binswanger, Medard Boss, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Victor Frankl. Indirectly, the works of Martin Heidegger, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Hans Vahinger were also examined. Albert Camus' works were chosen as the primary focus since Camus' concepts of “the absurd” and “solidarity” were similar to Adler's concepts of “inferiority feelings” and “social interest” and thus Camus' writings offered the ideal bridge between the two schools. The clinical areas of pathological narcissism, alienation, derealization, dissociation, psychosis, suicide, freedom and the anxiety of choice, rebellion, ennui and meaninglessness, and masochism and identification with the aggressor were also analyzed, as were teleological movement, the pathological experiences of time and space, I-thou relationships, style-of-life and being-in-the-world, unconscious thought processes, useful contribution and authentic commitment, and encouraging change.; The conclusion was that there were a great many similarities between Individual Psychology and Existential Psychology and that each could be enhanced—in terms of both theory and practice—by integrating the contributions of the other. The vast majority of expressed differences by assorted authors from each school seemed related to misunderstandings, or to a lack of a full awareness of the meaning and implications of various concepts.