Alfred Adler Books

In my early years as a physician and psychologist, I observed something crucial: people cannot be divided into separate compartments of mind and body, reason and emotion, conscious and unconscious. Each person acts and experiences as one whole, guided by a unique pattern of meaning I call the *style...

From The Science of Living

Every infant begins life in helplessness. Our physical smallness, our dependence on others, and our early defeats give rise to what I call *the feeling of inferiority*. Far from being pathological, this feeling is universal and necessary—it is the engine of human progress. Because we sense our limit...

From The Science of Living

Each one of us starts life as a child—small, dependent, uncertain in the face of a vast world. It is in this early stage that feelings of inferiority naturally arise. These are not signs of weakness; they are the engines of development. When we notice what we lack, we begin to move, to create, to co...

From Understanding Human Nature

When we speak of compensation, we refer to the natural attempt to overcome the felt insufficiency that inferiority creates. A person born with physical frailty often becomes mentally alert or emotionally sensitive in reaction to his disadvantage. This is not mere coincidence—it is the organism’s cre...

From Understanding Human Nature