Adler’s Understanding of and Approaches to Pandemics

Mea Culpa and what is Humanity to Do? Adler’s Understanding of and Approaches to Pandemics

Alfred Adler lived through the epidemics of typhus, malaria, diphtheria, and later the Spanish flu as an army physician between 1916 and 1918, and then as a physician in Vienna after World War I. Yet, there are no direct references to the Spanish flu in any of his writings during or about the corresponding years.

This presentation discusses the social, economic, and public health environment in which Adler lived between 1918 and 1920, details of his life, the focus of his work during those years, the possible reasons why he never mentioned the Spanish flu directly, and a clear holistic evolutionary approach to the pandemics that is visible and palpable in Adler’s writing.

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