Recommended Reading

Offerings in this section include many of the books used in distance training of Classical Adlerian Depth Psychotherapists - the works of Henry Stein, Sophia de Vries and other Classical Adlerians devoted to making clear the style of therapy that accompanies Adler's humane therapeutic theory.

Theory & Practice: A Socratic Approach to Democratic Living Henry T. Stein · Volume I Fully describes the stages and tasks of Classical Adlerian Depth Psychotherapy, with comprehensive expositions of strategies for cognitive, affective, and behavioral change. Includes a therapeutic adaptation of the Socratic method; guided and eidetic imagery; and role-playing techniques for providing missing developmental experiences. Read more →

Creative Case Analysis: Uncovering the Fictional Final Goal & the Counter-Fiction That Hides It Henry T. Stein · Volume II Part One includes a comprehensive guide to interpreting psychological movement. Part Two covers Life Style Analysis including feeling tone theory, interpreting Genograms and earliest recollections. Phases of the creative process; brain dominance; parallels to qualitative analysis; gathering, organizing, expanding and analyzing information; condensing and synthesizing; and formulating a treatment plan. Part Three offers seven case illustrations. Read more →

Demonstrations of Therapeutic Techniques Henry T. Stein · Volume III Includes role-plays with students-as-clients and work with real clients, demonstrating the Socratic Method, Missing Developmental Experience, Eidetic Imagery, and role-playing techniques. Part Two consists of role-played demonstrations with a student playing a client, giving the flavor of the different stages of CADP — compressed into a "twelve-act play." Part Three provides a transcription of Dr. Stein's work with a real client. Read more →

Child & Family Therapy Henry T. Stein · Volume IV Sophia de Vries' teachings about therapy with children provide a rare source of Adlerian wisdom. Transcriptions of three of her lectures on Adlerian theory and child development are included. Also includes sections of the unpublished manuscripts of Alexander Mueller's work with children and their families. Stein's contribution is the addition of practical details about the diagnostic and therapeutic process, largely deduced from watching Sophia work and discussing cases with her for more than twenty years. Read more →

A Clinician's Guide to the Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler Henry T. Stein Serves as bookends for the CCWAA series — providing both an introduction-overview and a conclusion-summary. A stand-alone volume with clear and concise summaries of every article in the series and every chapter in the multivolume books.

The Collected Works of Lydia Sicher: An Adlerian Perspective Lydia Sicher · Edited by Adele K. Davidson Dr. Lydia Sicher united a brilliant brain with a dauntless spirit — exactly the kind of human being who most appealed to Adler, who trained her and put her in charge of all Adlerian activities in Vienna after his work took him abroad in the late 1920s.

Individual Psychology Erwin Wexberg and Beran Wolfe Dr. Erwin Wexberg, perhaps the most brilliant and constructive co-worker of Adler in Vienna, presents a concise encyclopedia of human understanding and a guide to the technique of the most effective system of psychotherapy and pedagogy devised in modern times. Its rational approach to the problems of mental life, its scientific simplicity, and its vibrant humanism must appeal to all those who would understand and influence human behavior. The first book to show how far Adler has gone beyond his first announcement of the theory of organ inferiority and its psychic compensation. Read more → Download e-book →

Classical Adlerian Brief Therapy: The Innovative Techniques of Anthony Bruck Anthony Bruck · Edited by Henry T. Stein Bruck achieved remarkably quick therapeutic results with individuals from many countries, often in unusual circumstances. Trained by Alfred Adler, he mastered Adler's theory, philosophy, and style of treatment. This volume offers his simple, appealing diagrams that illustrate Adler's theory; fascinating case illustrations; and strategies for helping clients achieve practical improvements when therapeutic time is quite limited. Anthony's love of language and graphics adds a dramatic, clarifying dimension to the client-therapist dialogue. Read more → Download e-book →

You Shall Be A Blessing Alexander Müller "You Shall Be A Blessing: Main Traits of A Religious Humanism" forges three sources of personal meaning — philosophy, spirituality, and Adlerian Psychology — into an inspiring, profoundly stimulating view of the human condition.

We include here non-Adlerian books and authors we have found especially helpful in applying Adler's insights within the course of therapy. Just as we therapists creatively employ our personalities in co-thinking with our clients, so this literature, rich in context, spirit and focus, has assisted us in applying Adler's insights by effectively humane means.

Daniel J. Siegel Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. An internationally acclaimed author, award-winning educator, and child psychiatrist. Clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine and co-director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center. Executive Director of the Mindsight Institute, devoted to promoting insight, compassion, and empathy in individuals, families, institutions and communities. His books include "The Yes Brain," "Brainstorm," "Mindsight," "The Developing Mind," "The Mindful Brain," "The Mindful Therapist," "Parenting From the Inside Out," and "The Whole-Brain Child." Founding Editor of the Norton Professional Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology. Read more →More by Daniel Siegel →

Alice Miller Alice Miller (1923–2010) An influential and controversial figure in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. Her first book, The Drama of the Gifted Child (1979), sold millions worldwide. She described how a child's need for love was often exploited by parents to meet their own unmet needs. Unable to express their true feelings, these children grow up unhappy and depressed, out of touch with their real selves. A passionate supporter of children's rights, she fought to abolish the smacking of children, which she saw as an abuse of power. Parents and psychotherapists owe Miller a huge debt — she reminded us to question whether we "know best" and never to humiliate those who depend on us. Read more →List of Publications →

Bruce Perry Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D. Senior Fellow of The ChildTrauma Academy and adjunct Professor at Northwestern University. Author of The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog and Born For Love: Why Empathy is Essential and Endangered. His clinical research has focused on integrating concepts of developmental neuroscience and child development into clinical practices, resulting in the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT). The ChildTrauma Academy works with child protective services, mental health, public education and juvenile justice to promote positive change for high risk children. Read more →More by Bruce Perry →

The Behavior of Young Children of the Same Family Blanche C. Weill Blanche C. Weill was a collaborator of Lydia Sicher in the Los Angeles area. Writing from an Adlerian perspective, she helps parents and professionals understand the uniqueness of children within the same family. Through detailed case studies she helps the reader understand the child's inner workings — prototype and lifestyle — as they develop their limited understanding of their world and how they fit into it. Read more →

Your Inner Child of the Past W. Hugh Missildine The concepts of inner child of the past, being a parent to oneself, and mutual respect helped patients as soon as they were applied. Reading this book may illuminate your problems in such a way as to make it possible to apply yourself to the real cause of your loneliness, anxiety and exhausting conflicts.

The Lure of Superiority Waylan F. Vaughn Taking Adler's psychology as its basis, this study of normal personality analyzes the self-regarding sentiment and how persons with marked deficiencies are susceptible to the will-to-power by reason of various kinds of inferiority. Compensation is worked out in detail to demonstrate how certain purposes are rendered possible. The consciousness of inferiority arouses the mighty forces of the instinctive and emotional life and sets conditions that favor the attainment of distinction in art, religion, learning, and other paths to power. Read more →

Inventing Kindergarten Norman Brosterman The first comprehensive book about the original kindergarten — a revolutionary educational program invented in the 1830s by Friedrich Froebel — and how it became a familiar institution throughout the world by the end of the nineteenth century. Froebel's gifts — building blocks, parquetry tiles, origami papers, modeling clay, and other design projects — became wildly popular in the nineteenth century. In a section devoted to the origin of abstract art and modern architecture, Brosterman shows how this educational program may have influenced artists who attended kindergarten including Braque, Mondrian, Klee, Kandinsky, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Le Corbusier. Read more →

Holism and Evolution Jan Christiaan Smuts A philosophical work whose holistic vision resonates deeply with Adler's own understanding of the person as a unified whole. The old concepts and formulas are no longer adequate — the old bottles will no longer hold the new wine. Holism and the holistic point of view will prove important in their bearings on the main problems of science, philosophy, ethics, art and allied subjects. This little book indicates the lines along which my own mind has travelled in the search for new and more satisfactory concepts. Read more →

The Importance of Feeling Inferior Marie Beynon Ray Lucidly and interestingly written, with many convincing examples of the stimulation to achievement sparked by feelings of inferiority — such outstanding cases as those of Lincoln and Alexander the Great. Its many case histories of less-known individuals can enormously assist the normal person to understand oneself and others and to order one's life more happily. (From the foreword by Manfred J. Sakel, M.D.) Read more →

The Wisdom of Insecurity Alan W. Watts Drawing from Eastern philosophy and religion, Alan Watts shows that it is only by acknowledging what we do not — and cannot — know that we can learn anything truly worth knowing. In order to lead a fulfilling life, we must embrace the present and live fully in the now. Featuring an Introduction by Deepak Chopra. Read more →

The Dominant Sex: A Study in the Sociology of Sex Differentiation Mathilde and Mathius Vaerting The fundamental theory of this book is that what we call "masculine" qualities today are merely the qualities of a dominant sex, and what we call "feminine" qualities are merely the qualities of a subordinate sex. The authors have proved that much of what we lightly class as "masculinity" and "femininity" is not congenital, but is reacquired from generation to generation. Only when full allowance has been made for the effects of sex dominance will it be possible to ascertain the residue of masculine and feminine character traits which are indisputably congenital. Read more →

The Biology of Desire Marc Lewis Cognitive neuroscientist and former addict Marc Lewis makes a convincing case that addiction is not a disease, and shows why the disease model has become an obstacle to healing. Lewis reveals addiction as an unintended consequence of the brain doing what it's supposed to do — seek pleasure and relief — in a world that's not cooperating. He shows how treatment can be retooled to achieve lasting recovery. Enlightening and optimistic reading for anyone who has wrestled with addiction either personally or professionally. Read more →