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Though neither Alfred Adler nor Viktor Franki had much to say about hypnosis and hypnotherapy, they have contributed to the understanding of human personality and counselling techniques. We owe Alfred Adler for such terms as "Inferiority Feeling" and "Inferiority Complex" and "Superiority Complex", "Birth Order", "Fictional Fatalism", and "Style of Life." Much of the hypnotherapist work with people deals with one or many of those issues. Viktor Frankl survived the Holocaust and the Nazi death camps. During his time in the concentration camps, Frankl developed his approach to psychotherapy known as logotherapy. At the core of his theory is the belief that humanity' s primary motivational force is the search for meaning. He emphasised "Freedom of Will", "Will to Meaning and "Meaning of Life" In opposition to Sigmund Freud, he taught that human beings are ultimately free to make choices and changes in life. If used, the theories of Adler and Frankl can make one a better therapist.
In 1972 and 1973, I went through four quarters of Clinical Pastoral Education (C.PE.) at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C. When I went there, I was a very outgoing person but inside, I felt inferior. When someone gave me a compliment, I would smile and say "Thank you," but inside I would discount the compliment.
During the second quarter of C.RE., our supervisor Chaplain Ray Stephens assigned each student, two pioneer psychologists to present a class on each. I was assigned to report on Alfred Adler and Viktor Frankl. As I prepared those two classes, I began to notice a change in how I felt about myself I recognised that I could overcome my inferiority feelings (Adler) and that I could have meaning and purpose in my life (Frankly. As a result of those two classes, I went from low man on the totem pole to a class leader. The transformation I experienced (physically, emotionally and spiritually) could be compared to a conversion experience. Adler and Frankl have contributed to my understanding of human personality and how I relate to an individual in the therapeutic situation. Though neither was a hypnotherapist, they have contributed greatly to my counselling skills, techniques and therapy.
ALFRED ADLER
Thyra Boldsen said, "Dr Adler was real. Whether...