ABSTRACT
The concept of life-style is one of paramount importance in Individual Psychology. The holistic approach espoused by Alfred Adler views the person as an integrated whole whose thoughts, emotions, and behavior are consistent rather than contradictory (Adler, 1929). Every individual from earliest childhood develops his or her own unique law of movement. The direction of this movement aims always at overcoming the difficulties of one’s life (Ansbacher & Ansbacher, 1964). The individual’s consistent movement toward a personal goal of security and significance is his or her life-style. Adler (Ansbacher & Ansbacher, 1956) summarized lifestyle as a “general concept composing, in addition to the goal, the individuals’ opinion of himself and the world and his unique way of striving for this goal in his particular situation” (p. 172). Adler (1933/1938) viewed life-style as “command[ing] all forms of expression,” including “instincts, impulses, feeling, thinking, acting, attitude to pleasure and displeasure, and finally self-love and social interest” (p. 8).
