Individual psychology is a term used specifically to refer to the psychological method or science founded by the Viennese psychiatrist Alfred Adler (Fall, Holden, & Marquis, 2002). The English edition of Adler's work on the subject (1925) is a collection of papers and lectures given mainly in 1912-1914, and covers the whole range of human psychology in a single survey, intended to mirror the indivisible unity of the personality.
In developing the concept of "individual psychology" Adler broke away from the psychoanalytic school of Sigmund Freud (Dinkmeyer, Pew, & Dinkmeyer, 1979). In this development, Adler did call his work "free psychoanalysis" for a time, but he later rejected the label of "psychoanalyst" (Hoffman, 1994). His method, involving a holistic approach to the study of character (Mosak & DiPietro, 2006), has been extremely influential in later 20th century counselling and psychiatric strategies (Oberst & Stewart, 2003).
The term "individual psychology" can also be used more generally to refer to what is more commonly known as differential psychology, or the psychology of individual differences. Usage of this term is likely to imply a more individualistic focus than is found in mainstream psychology of individual differences, where there is frequently a bias towards nomothetic research.
The term differentiates Adler's approach entirely from Völkerpsychologie (Social psychology), the culminating thesis of Wilhelm Wundt down to 1920.
Read more about Individual Psychology: Adler's Psychology, Papers Contained in Individual Psychology (1929 English Revised Edition)
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