ABSTRACT
One of the great hallmarks of Adlerian thought is the emphasis on usefulness. What human beings do, they do for some adaptive purpose; thus there is reason in all that a person does. However, that purpose is often not understood by the person. While one may know when something works because of the validating outcome produced, that individual often fails to appreciate the adaptive purpose of their own reactions. This is most notable when the experience is one perceived to be aversive or unpleasant to the individual. One may be able to explain why he or she feels good, but that person often cannot articulate the advantage of feeling badly, even though identifying the source of those feelings might be easy. However, there is purpose in unpleasant and painful emotions, just as there is purpose and benefit in physical pain. It makes sense that a person would attend to a physical injury when physical pain is perceived; so too should a person attend to psychological injury when psychological pain is felt. But just as it would not make sense to treat the physical pain without attention to the source of injury, it is likewise not sensible to only treat the psychological pain when one is psychologically hurt. Similarly, if one is injured by tripping over a curb, there is little to be gained by attacking the curb; likewise, if one feels emotionally hurt, there may be little gained by attacking the source of that hurt. However, in both cases, it may be wise to be more careful around the source of that injury and to bolster oneself against future injury.
