ABSTRACT
As is true of all people, Adler was a product of his times and unique life experiences. Educated as a physician and psychiatrist at a time when scientic, reductionist thinking predominated, he was taught that people can only be understood in part and not in whole, and that mental illness existed only in the mind. Yet he chose to believe that people function as an integrated whole, that individuals cannot be understood outside of their relational and environmental context, that mental illness is a creative response to life circumstances, and that mental health is a personal choice achieved through interest in and cooperation with others. Consistent with these concepts, he dened the goal of helping as one of nding meaning in life through the promotion of social interest.
