Neo-Adlerian psychologists are those working in the tradition of, or influenced by Alfred Adler, an early associate of, and dissident from the ideas of, Sigmund Freud.
Neo-Adlerian ideas have been identified in the field of education, associated particularly with the work of Rudolf Dreikurs.[1] The Neo-Adlerian classroom model stresses the importance of the student's search for feelings of belonging.[2]
Fritz Wittels used the term 'Neo-Adlerian' to refer derogatively to the Neo-Freudians, due to their emphasis on the social aspects of psychology.[3] Heinz Ansbacher however sought to capture the Neo-Freudians as neo-Adlerians, to promote Adler's influence.[4] Henri Ellenberger would later adjudge that what he called the neo-psychoanalysts like Karen Horney and Erich Fromm would indeed more accurately be known as neo-Adlerians.[5]
Transactional Analysis has also been termed a neo-Adlerian school[6] - Eric Berne himself acknowledging that "of all those who preceded transactional analysis, Alfred Adler comes the closest to talking like a script analyst".[7] A direct line of influence runs from Adler through Harry Stack Sullivan to Thomas Anthony Harris[8] - one of the co-creators of TA[9] - with Adler's ideas on guiding fictions and the sense of inferiority feeding into Berne's concept of psychological games,[10] which can also be considered in terms of the interactions of different life style systems.[11]