Marina Bluvshtein, Ph.D.
Director
Centre for Adlerian Practise + Scholarship
Chicago, Online, Vancouver
“I follow the Rule of the Three Rs – adhering to reason, rigor, and relationships. I see these principles being especially useful at the grand contemporary social junction where Adler’s Individual Psychology responds to a call for community actions and personal responsibility for the fate of humankind.”
OVERVIEW
Dr. Bluvshtein has devoted nearly three decades to the study, teaching, and Practise of Adlerian psychology. At Adler University, she directs the Centre for Adlerian Practise and Scholarship (CAPS) and serves as professor, teaching courses in Adlerian psychotherapy, assessment, family Counselling, and Counselling with older adults. Through CAPS, she has expanded Adlerian resources for faculty, students, and the wider community — overseeing Adlerpedia, supporting archival work, organizing clinical trainings, and building connections with Adlerian organizations worldwide.
Her leadership extends well beyond Adler University. In 2024, she was reelected to a second term as president of the International Association of Individual Psychology (IAIP), the oldest Adlerian organization in the world. She also serves on the boards of the International Committee of Adlerian Schools and Institutes (ICASSI) and the Alfred Adler Institute of New York, and is an ICASSI faculty member. Her scholarship has appeared widely, including as author, reviewer, and guest editor for the Journal of Individual Psychology and the Journal of Humanistic Psychology.
Dr. Bluvshtein’s areas of expertise include early recollections, dreams, metaphors, the history of Adlerian psychology, and cross-lingualism in mental health, with a special interest in neurocognitive development in older adulthood. She has mentored countless practitioners who have gone on to collaborate with her as colleagues in teaching, writing, and presenting. In 2016, she founded the Adler Academy of Minnesota. Earlier in her career, and before immigrating to the United States as a refugee, she worked as a high school teacher and assistant principal, librarian, chemical lab technician, and construction engineer.
MEMBERSHIPS + ASSOCIATIONS
- 2001-Current: American Psychological Association (APA).
- 1999-Current: American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT), Clinical Fellow.
- 1996-Current: North American Society of Adlerian Psychology (NASAP).
PRESENTATIONS + PUBLICATIONS
Presentations
The Future of Higher Education
Adlerian-Based Brief Interventions for Couples in Distress
Advanced Lifestyle Analysis
Inferiority as a Theoretical and Practical Concept
Alfred Adler: His Life and His Theory
Adler’s Life and How It Influenced His Theory
Early Recollections and Group Dynamics.
Dreams: An Adlerian approach.
Threads of Connection – Moving the Needle Toward Wholeness and Happiness.
The best of Adlerian treatment: early recollections, metaphors, paradox, and Humour.
Summer School (ICASSI). Collinsville, IL. Invited. 19 participants.
Early Recollections and Working with Trauma.
Collinsville, IL. Invited. 13 participants.
Understanding the Dreams and the Dreamer.
School (ICASSI). Collinsville, IL. Invited. 12 participants.
The Art to Be Happy.
Summer School (ICASSI). Collinsville, IL. Invited. 90 minutes.
Trauma: Adler’s understanding and Adlerian approaches.
Using Metaphors: A Gift of Metamorphosis for Each of You
Publications
Adler’s Individual Psychology studied through the lens of his Jewish ethnocultural, intellectual, and spiritual life
Diagnostic value of early recollections: Match, rematch, and a perfectly imperfect match
Echoing in the Bone and Blood: Adlerian approaches to cultural postmemories
Psychopathology and Psychotherapy: DSM-5-TR Diagnosis, Case Conceptualization, and Treatment (4th ed.)
Early recollections and the use of Artificial Intelligence
Tyranny and Wars: From Tyrannical Personality to Mass Tyranny – An Adlerian Perspective
LEADERSHIP + ENGAGEMENT
- 2023 – Present: Board member, Alfred Adler Institute of New York.
- 2021 – Present: International Association of Individual Psychology (IAIP) – President.
- 2018 – Faculty and 2024 – Present: Board member, International Committee of Adlerian Summer Schools and Institutes (ICASSI).
- 2016 – Founder and ED, Adler Academy of MN.
CURRENT RESEARCH + OPPORTUNITIES
- Continuous work on women’s voices in psychology.
- Use of metaphors in therapy and beyond to enhance human experience.