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In the 1940s, several mental health practitioners began experimenting with the use of multiple therapists. This article focuses on the contribution of Rudolf Dreikurs and Individual Psychology to this experimentation with the structure of psychotherapy. In 1946 Dreikurs and the members of his group private practice began exploring the use of multiple therapists in the treatment of clients. This grew out of his experience in the family guidance clinics begun by Alfred Adler in Vienna in the 1920s and 1930s. This exploration led to the Individual Psychology multiple psychotherapy model, with a specified sequence of interviews designed to serve as an intake to a group practice. Three other multiple therapist models, a brief therapy model, a reflection team model, and a cotherapy model, are briefly discussed, followed by a discussion of the use of these models in training and supervision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors reexplore some of Adler's therapeutic formulations with the aim of presenting a renewed look at the meaning of psychological healing. They begin with Adler's concepts of mental health and psychological disorder and how Adler developed a healing process as movement toward greater community feeling. They discuss the processes of healing as a guiding ideal accomplished via treatment that requires practical, humane interaction. The process emphasizes the importance of the client feeling understood--with a holistic emphasis on both feeling and understanding. The authors use an alliterated conceptualization: client-clinician connection (mutual feeling), cooperation (mutual action), and common sense (mutual understanding) to describe movement in the healing process. The second half of the article offers a clinical illustration of how felt understanding between client and clinician can manifest practically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the professional training and practice history for one Individual Psychology practitioner. The author moves from a family practice emphasizing parenting skills to an individual psychotherapy practice focused on treating insomnia. The elasticity of Individual Psychology as a theory is illustrated by following its application in a variety of treatment settings. The insight and clarity of vision of Alfred Adler and the founding associates was very influential in this psychologist's professional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mindfulness meditation has been adopted by Western health practitioners from the Buddhist tradition of seeking spiritual enlightenment. Although general similarities between Individual Psychology (IP) and Buddhism have been noted, there has been no discussion of using meditation in IP interventions. There is, however, a long tradition of mindfulness meditation in Buddhism. It was first described by Siddhartha Gautama (later known as Buddha) in his first teaching after achieving enlightenment (c. 400 BCE). It was described at that time as a part of the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. The IP practitioner considering the use of mindfulness meditation will likely benefit from a knowledge of the context in which Buddha presented it originally and from an understanding of Buddhist strategies for enhancing mindfulness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open forum counseling, a service delivery modality unique to Individual Psychology, was developed by Alfred Adler in the years after World War I at Centers for the Guidance of Parents. Usually, an individual or a family is interviewed in front of an audience as a means of educating the audience about Individual Psychology. The authors address ethical issues regarding informed consent in open forum counseling. Respecting the rights, autonomy, and dignity of the client is the cornerstone of a good therapeutic relationship in Individual Psychology. Informed consent is an ethical and sometimes legal mandate to inform the client(s) in a professional relationship about the limits of confidentiality as well as the nature, possible risks, and possible benefits of their treatment prior to obtaining their consent to participate in this treatment. The authors propose a process for obtaining informed consent and an informed-consent form as means of enacting a respectful relationship with the volunteer(s) in open forum counseling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders is an emerging multidisciplinary field. Behavioral sleep medicine integrates what is known about sleep and the factors that disrupt it with the strategies and techniques of psychotherapy. The conceptual foundations of insomnia treatment are circadian dysrhythmia, homeostatic dysregulation, and hyperarousal. These processes are incorporated into the cognitive-behavioral treatment of insomnia, which is based on a biopsychosocial formulation: an integration of the biology, the beliefs and behaviors related to sleep, the lifestyle, and the interpersonal/social context of the person. In this article, these sleep processes are defined and integrated into the basic assumptions of Individual Psychology and Adlerian psychotherapy. A case study illustrates the assessment and treatment process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]