The historical and phantasmal in Adlerian psychotherapy

Abstract

The article explores the Adlerian psychotherapeutic approach, focusing on the analysis of dreams and fantasies as therapeutic tools. Starting from Adler's theories, it emphasizes the importance of a holistic view of the individual, considering their biological, psychological, and social components. This approach allows for a more complete understanding of the human being, through an analysis that integrates both biography and deep psychological aspects. Adlerian psychotherapy does not ignore the manifest content of dreams and fantasies, but seeks to interweave it with the patient's historical and personal experience, exploring emotional dynamics, unconscious conflicts, and compensations. The therapeutic technique requires flexibility in listening, to allow for an integrated understanding of historical and symbolic material. Dreams, for example, are not interpreted only as expressions of latent conflicts, but also as manifestations of compensatory responses to feelings of inferiority. The article also describes two clinical cases in which dream analysis helps to understand the link between personal history and phantasmal dynamics. Furthermore, it discusses the importance of a flexible approach that contemplates different interpretative registers, avoiding methodological rigidity, but always maintaining an integrated view of the patient