Students | Alumni | Faculty+Staff | Chicago | Online | Vancouver | 03.18.22
Presented by Marina Bluvshtein
In 1935, in his discussion of other-directedness, Alfred Adler wrote, “The feeling of belongingness, the social interest, takes root in the psyche of the child and leaves the individual only under the severest pathological changes of his mental life”. In Adler’s and later in Rudolf Dreikurs’s writings concerning the trajectory of individual development and the fate of humanity, the theme of belongingness – with its valuative, cognitive, affective, and behavioral properties – is omnipresent. This lecture, live demonstration, and small discussion groups will address the origins and the development of the fundamental tenet of belongingness in Adlerian psychology, the uniqueness of that tenet in Adlerian psychology, and its role in personality development and social evolution. Mental health implications of lack of belongingness, underdeveloped, and misguided belongingness will be considered on all systems levels – from individual to familial, to societal, to global. In light of the current war, a special discussion will focus on the sabotaged sense of belongingness at the root of the lifestyle of dictators.