Derek Alder Case Study

Alder’s Theory Applied to Derek According to Alder, everybody is riddled with insecurities, and that feelings of inferiority are common in everyday life. These are not necessarily bad, because they serve as motivation for behavior. In the case study of Derek, he is constantly trying to live up to his father’s expectations and gain his approval. Derek’s father is extremely successful, and puts a lot of pressure on his children to attain the same level of success. In order to overcome his feelings of inferiority, Derek has to compensate and strive for superiority. There are two ways of striving for superiority: one is healthy that includes trying to improve oneself, and the other involves putting others down. For the most part, Derek appears …show more content…
However, when Derek was still very young, his father drank too much and was abusive to his wife. While Derek was not abused himself, he witnessed his mother’s abuse. Derek’s father eventually stopped drinking when Derek was 5 or 6. At this time, Derek was still very young, but he has already been exposed to the violence and destructive lifestyle his father previously lived. To Alder, the first years of life are very important because personality is created during the first 4 or 5 years of life. The first memories a person has are also critically important; they shape the ideas that guide behavior and have an impact on the inner narrative of a person. If Derek was exposed to his father mistreating his loved ones, it could lead to a skewed perception of how a family is supposed to interact. It also creates fear of his father, which Derek shows in various ways throughout his …show more content…
People are naturally social beings because we deal with others every day and have multiple type of relationships. Derek was motivated to please his father all throughout his life, and that then influenced how he behaved. During his first year at college, his girlfriend broke up with him due to his behaviors. Derek knew he wanted her to take him back, so he changed the way he lived his life and convinced he that he was the type of person she would want to be with. Derek always naturally exceeded in the social aspect of life because he was so charismatic, which most likely came from his early social experiences. Derek was able to overcome his inferiority feeling for once and for all, and he was finally content with himself and his life. He strived for superiority in a mostly healthy way, although he did feel entitled sometimes and tried to charm people to get what he wanted when he was younger. This changed though for the better, and he continued to have a socially useful life and his fictional finalism eventually became