EXISTENTIAL TRENDS TOWARD INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGYl

Several attempts have been made to compare Adler's Individual Psychology to existentialism or existential analysis (e. g., 22, 28). Dreikurs (9) isolates several tenets from Adlerian psychology and finds a model that includes all the characteristic assumptions of existential analysis which made their impact felt in America. Van Dusen (27) reports fundamental similarities in Individual Psychology and existence analysis in their mutual emphasis on phenomenological, holistic, and idiographic concepts. Stern (15) views the existentialists as siding with Adlerian psychologists on the basic issues of values, man's freedom to choose, his responsibility and ability to discharge this freedom, and the need for a subjective understanding of behavior. These writers and others have underlined points of affinity and overlap, as well as differences. The problem of such a comparison is inherent in existentialism's contradictory nature, and in the differences among the men themselves who are generally regarded as belonging to this philosophy. One phase that especially needs clarification centers around the question of individualism versus social involvement (II, 21). Existential themes of identity, selfhood, and subjectivity expressed through arbitrary choices seem to oppose the Adlerian position. The latter is well known for its emphasis on the relationship between men, man's aptitude for social interest, compassion, generosity, and concern for others. Adler's reference to society as against the existential quest for the personal "I" bring back an old issue in psychology that certainly has been restated a number of times in recent literature. The purpose of the present paper is to show that while it is true that the original existential conc~pts are largely contrary to Adlerian ideas, the more recent existential trends are becoming congruent to them, especially those trends which are making their way into psy-