Alderian theory is a theory of personality and social development that argues that people live in a realm of meanings where men are overvalued and women are undervalued. He also argues that people live with the view of a final imaginary future that guides all efforts in one direction and forms the foundation of creativity, choice, esteem, and the direction taken by their life.
He argues that this effect results majorly from parenting and education where at the affective level they develop the feeling of belonging together with others, at the cognitive stage learn interdependence of welfare of people than at the behavioral stage these feelings and thinking is translated to self-development and cooperativeness with others, therefore, learn from them in self-development. He adds that each person develops in a uniquely creative way despite the common dependence on the social context that forms the basis for thoughts, actions, and dreams, therefore, concludes that these are not genetic or hereditary. (Corey, 2005)
He argues that negative personality development results from conscious insufficiencies concerning elder children and adults. These insufficiencies lead to feelings of inferiority which also act as a motivation to self-development to compensate for the unconscious feelings of lack. He refers to the mother as the primary factor in this development and fathers as associates. He further says that if the support is lacking, then feelings of inferiority advance making children feel discouraged.
This leads them to set unattainable goals to overcome the inferiority thus avoid real tests of life and develop an individualistic and fictional view of the tasks of life work, community, and love. This increases the discrepancy between reality and the perception of it. An association of people with inferiority will prove hard as they will have different goal formations, intelligence, and superiority. (Kirwan, 1984)
As seen from the description, this applied to Sallie in that she was born of a perfectionist mother who laid very high standards for her children. The mother developed anxiety and depression after the birth of Sallie probably as a result of being an extra female child considering the female child undervaluation.
The undervalue led to neglect of Sallie and at the affective stage, she developed feelings of neglect, the cognitive stage she learned the negative part of interdependence then at the behavioral stage these feelings of neglect, lack of belonging, and unfairness of life were translated into behavior development and feelings of hate towards the community as also the father distanced himself and did not feel kind to her either. She was often spanked and the mother was angry at her leading to further development of inferiority and imperfection. (Kirwan, 1984)
Having had average development but not being allowed to have friends will make her grow to have the problem of pursuing imagined superiority over others. She will also have the problem of avoiding the major tasks and tests of life. She will also have the problem of working in cooperation with others as the idea of community was not cultivated in her. The high anxiety and poor socialization will result in poor teaching services to the pre-school children. Having inferiority problems and the apparent one of the boyfriend demanding all his time with her and is jealous when she is with friends, they may have problems as they will have different goals. (Corey, 2005)
She may also have problems making choices in the way of doing things if one way fails due to poor social development. She sees the boyfriend as good in everything due to the high discrepancy between reality and the discernment of it, as it’s usually wide in people with social underdevelopment. She may also feel isolated and suspicious due to the lack of connection to the community. She may overestimate problems and underestimate her capability to address them.
She may have the problem of demanding to be loved and not in return love the people who love or give her consideration. She has the problem of learning and influencing the children in the right way. The major source of all the symptoms is the problem of inferiority, the lack of feeling of community, and the unrealizable goals. (Kirwan, 1984)
As a solution to these problems, she will need to attend a child guidance institution to learn to understand and influence a deal with children with problems. She will need to get supportive counseling services focused on her specific problems and to help moderate her insight and induce an attitude change towards the problems. She can be placed on a therapy program to help develop the partially developed personality, develop the courage to deal with problems, and develop a better sense of contribution, sense of community, and help fulfill her expectations and satisfaction. (Kirwan, 1984)
The key concepts include psychoanalysis which explains the relationship between human psychological working through analysis of the mind, theory formations on human behavior, and means of treating both the psychological and emotional symptoms. It also focuses on the development strategies that include the oral stage at 18 months. With the center of pleasure centered on the mouth, the deprivation at this stage leads to manipulation of others and no sense of independence. The anal stage that majorly centers on the anus and is between 2 and 3years whose result incase of neglect leads to lack of self-control, messiness, and carelessness.
The phallic stage that comes between 3 and 6 years and the pleasure centers on the genital area and the oedipal or Electra complex leads to sexual deviances like promiscuity. The latency stage between ages 6 and 12 and libido is dissociated then reawakens at puberty. The Genital stage is described as the last in psychosocial development that begins at puberty (age 12) then continues to maturity. (Kirwan, 1984)
Therapeutic processes are the steps taken in the treatment of a person that is based on the individual patient. It’s argued that an eclectic and personal relationship needs to be developed with the patient to be successful. These processes include primary integration, communicative art therapy, gestalt therapy, psychodrama, and Jungian sand play therapy. The major therapeutic techniques include the helping discharge method, attention switching, celebration, and target practice to help fade away the psychosocial problems. The therapeutic procedures include implantation of helpful devices, fibrillation of current symptoms, the use of pacemakers, and the use of ablation procedures. (Corey, 2005)
The major issues affecting this patient and which also result in the symptoms according to this theory are the internalized feelings of inferiority, the lack of feelings of community, and the very high set final goals. These problems can be addressed by applying the major therapeutic procedures as the patient’s case is not severe. (Corey, 2005)
In this case, there is a crisis or a potential crisis as Sallie is having severe depression and anxiety due to her situation as it seems she has a problem attending to the job at hand. Having poor socialization, a sense of community, and the inferiority from the poor performance and sickly nature she has limited power of adapting to problems. For this reason instead of solving the situation through the major tasks of life, she may distance herself from these and people through either procrastination, abuse of alcohol and other drugs, or suicide. (Kirwan, 1984)
After the evaluation of the patient whose case is not yet severe, I would recommend that she be taken through counseling to help develop the sense of community that she is most likely lacking. I also recommend that the work task be addressed independently as it seems to also be a problem in her case. Other therapeutic processes can be applied to correct the present symptoms and help recover her psychosocial deficiency that is resulting from the outward signs.
List of reference
Corey, G. (2005) Theory of Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy. (7th Ed.). Thomson Brooks/Cole ISBN-13: 9780534050764 ISBN: 053405076X.
Kirwan, W. (1984) Biblical Concepts for Christian Counseling: A Case for Integrating Psychology and Theology. Baker Academic.