Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust movement.
Alfred AdlerRead
In the investigation of a neurotic style of life, we must always suspect an opponent, and note who suffers most because of the patient's condition. Usually this is a member of the family.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the impact of an individual's neurosis on their family members, suggesting that those closest often bear the burden.
Alfred Adler emphasizes that when examining the neurotic behaviors of an individual, it is crucial to recognize the effects those behaviors have on others, particularly family members. Often, it is the family who endures the most significant suffering due to the patient's condition, indicating a complex relational dynamic where one's personal issues can lead to collective pain and dysfunction.
Themes
NeurosisFamilySufferingPsychologyRelationships
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a family therapy session to discuss the impacts of one member's mental health on the entire family.
More from Alfred Adler
All quotes →War is not the continuation of politics with different means, it is the greatest mass-crime perpetrated on the community of man.
Alfred AdlerRead
Every individual acts and suffers in accordance with his peculiar teleology, which has all the inevitability of fate, so long as he does not understand it.
Alfred AdlerRead
The science of the mind can only have for its proper goal the understanding of human nature by every human being, and through its use, brings peace to every human soul.
Alfred AdlerRead
All failures - neurotics, psychotics, criminals, drunkards, problem children, suicides, perverts, and prostitutes - are failures because they are lacking in social interest
Alfred AdlerRead
What do you first do when you learn to swim? You make mistakes, do you not? And what happens? You make other mistakes, and when you have made all the mistakes you possibly can without drowning - and some of them many times over - what do you find? That you can swim? Well - life is just the same as learning to swim! Do not be afraid of making mistakes, for there is no other way of learning how to live!
Alfred AdlerRead
Similar quotes
The great thing about behavioural psychology and economics is that they help us to see that there are actually pretty good reasons why human beings swing from greed to fear, and why we're not really calculating machines or utility-maximisers.
Niall FergusonRead
Had I left those images hidden in the emotions, I might have been torn to pieces by them.
Carl JungRead
I'm fascinated by the ways in which people express themselves, because their responses are often counter to what they're actually feeling. Like when they're frightened, they tend to freeze. When they're angry, it doesn't always come out as volume. There are wonderful contradictions in the way that people express their emotions.
Edward NortonRead
A theory that denies that thoughts can regulate actions does not lend itself readily to the explanation of complex human behavior.
Albert BanduraRead
We know that the great majority of people have a strong need for authority which it can admire, to which it can submit, and which dominates and sometimes even ill-treats it.
Sigmund FreudRead
People don't just get upset. They contribute to their upsetness.
Albert EllisRead