Juxtaposition Of Adlerian Therapy And Cognitive Behavioral...

Juxtaposition of Adlerian Therapy and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is widely known and utilized in the psychological field; however, Adlerian therapy, also known as individual psychology, is not universally known yet has roots that appear in CBT. In fact, Albert Ellis, founder of CBT, has acknowledged that Alfred Adler, founder of individual psychology, was one of the earliest therapists to emphasize the importance of understanding people’s thoughts, their observations of themselves, and their conscious experiences (Carlson, Maniacci, Watts, 2006). Therefore, a juxtaposition of CBT and Adlerian Therapy is warranted in order to evaluate the similarities and differences in conceptualization of client psychopathology, of their approach to treatment, and of how these therapies stand in terms of empirical evidence. Conceptualization of Client Psychopathology Human Nature and Psychopathology in Individual Psychology Alfred Adler maintained that the first four to five years in a child’s life were crucial in developing the child’s life style, which contains values and guides to life, as well as the child’s schema of apperception, which is how the child sees himself and the external world. The life style has two main components: one, beliefs about what exists, which is established through self-concept and worldview, and two, beliefs about what should be, which is created through the ideal self and ethical expectations (Carlson et al., 2006).