Study of Organ Inferiority and Its Psychical Compensation: A Contribution to Clinical Medicine, Issue 24At the beginning of the twentieth century Alfred Adler (1870- 1937) investigated the influence of physical inferiority on the development of normal and pathologic mental trends, joining in 1902 the group gathered around Freud. As early as 1907, however, his studies on organ inferiority resulted in conclusions that were irreconcilable with Freud's theories. Circa 1912 he separated from Freud and founded his own school of Individual Psychology. What Adler called "organ inferiority" is a condition that might occur as a familial tendency or as a situation in one individual. When the tendency was familial in nature one might find that a whole series of members suffered from a disorder that tended to attack one organ, and when organ inferiority is an individual tendency a disease would be liable to localize in the inferior organ since it is a common experience to find that inferior organs fail first in their functions when the organism is infected or under a particular stress. To Adler the inferiority represented a defect in the material available for the construction of a normal well balanced personality pattern, and it became a point of crystallization for the mental superstructure of compensation and hypercompensation; moreover, this organ inferiority tends to increase the feeling of inferiority experienced by every child resulting in an intensification of the striving towards an often unattainable goal. In the course of this striving the personality may become distorted and exhibit the traits of a "neurosis" or of a character disorder. This whole concept later became known popularly as the "inferiority complex" and was extended to include psychical deficiencies the personality reaction to which was often one of overcorrection of the original disorder. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2005 APA, all rights reserved). |
Other editions - View all
Study of Organ Inferiority and Its Psychical Compensation: A Contribution to ... Smith Ely Jelliffe,Alfred Adler No preview available - 2017 |
Common terms and phrases
affections albuminuria already anal fissures anamnesis anxiety apex appear attacks bladder bowels brother carcinoma catarrh central nervous system child childhood childish defects chronic compensation compensatory complains conception connection constipation defect in speech diabetes early masturbation ejaculatio precox embryonic emphasized enuretic epilepsy external fact father died feriority frequently fundamental inferiority gastro-intestinal growth healthy heightened hereditary heredity hysteria infantile infection inferi inferior organ inferiority theory intestinal kidney lack of palatal lung masturbation material morphologic mother died nephritis neuroses nevus nevus pigmentosus nutritive tract obesity organ inferiority ority over-compensation pains palatal reflex particularly patellar reflex pathology patient peripheral pharyngeal reflex phenomena psyche psychic pulmonary tuberculosis pyelitis reflex anomalies regard region renal diseases segmental inferiority sexual apparatus sexual organs shows signs of degeneration simultaneous inferiority sister slight soft palate sphincter stigmata strabismus suffered from enuresis teeth tion urinary apparatus urinary organs urine violent vomiting