Alfred Adler
- Author:
Phyllis Bottome. Faber &
Faber, Ltd. Price 10s. 6d. net.
This is the third appreciation of Adler published in England since his death at Aberdeen in August, 1937. It is written by a well-known novelist who, with her husband, was in close touch with Adler and his family for the last ten years of his life. It is the most intimate account yet available in English and gives many personal details which will be of interest to those who knew Adler only from his lectures and his writings.
No attempt is made to gloss over those aspects of Adler’s character which were apt to be some- what disconcerting to his friends and associates.
Orthodox Individual Psychology tended to become more and more a closed system, and Adler was the only arbitrator to decide what was and what was not orthodox. Even those who valued most highly Adler’s contribution to Medical Psychology might easily be regarded as suspect and, with the exception of his daughter Dr Alexandra Adler, there was at the time of Adler’s death not a single medical man or woman whom he would accept or acknowledge as being capable of representing his views. The author does not state this in so many words but from what is said in the book and what is common knowledge there is no doubt that this was the case.
The book shows signs of somewhat hasty preparation and there are so many inaccuracies and mistakes in detail referring both to individuals and organizations that the knowledgeable English reader is left in doubt as to what credence is to be placed on statements and conclusions dealing with incidents centred in Austria and America. The author represents the non- acceptance of Adler’s views by professional colleagues as due either to their cowardice or jealousy. This may be true in specific instances, but it is in the main an unwarrantable assumption of which no proof is or can be given. And there is a tendency throughout the book to stress Adler’s Messianic mission and to suggest that while ” the common people heard him gladly ” doctors and psychologists rejected him to their own deprivation and loss.
So it may be said that while the book is interesting and valuable as the expression of the views of an ardent follower and an intimate associate it cannot be accepted as an adequate valuation of Adler’s place in either Medicine or Psychology. How great was his contribution not only to medical psychology but particularly to child guidance and training will be assessed finally not by references to the opinions of adherents however gifted and experienced but by the trend of future thought and practice. H.C.S.
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