This Volume contains two collections of case readings and demonstrations: Part 1, The Problem Child, and Part 2, The Pattern of Life. First published in German in 1930 as one of the volumes on The Technique of Individual Psychology, The Problem Child was sub-titled "The Soul of Difficult School Children." It was later translated and published in English in 1963 as The Problem Child, and sub-titled "The Life Style of the Difficult Child as Analyzed in Specific Cases." It presents Adler's personal interviews with children, their parents and their teachers, in one of his Viennese clinics for emotionally disturbed children.

Originally published in 1930, The Pattern of Life included transcriptions of Adler's case readings and demonstration interviews with adults, children, and parents. The 1929 demonstration-lecture series held for students at the New School of Social Research in New York City generally involved live interviews with lower socio-economic immigrant families. He addressed issues of anxiety, school failure, passivity, delinquency, serious illness, and mental retardation. Although these extensively edited, transcribed sessions offer merely a small window into the case analysis and consulting process, rather than a comprehensive exposition, they give a vivid impression of Adler's exceptional ability to make immediate contact with children and adults, his quick, yet profound insights, and his vigorous optimism about human nature.

Through his case comments to students, brief interviews with family members, and advice to children, parents, and teachers, he introduced American psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers and teachers to a new method of helping families.

Editor's Preface 2005

Part 1: The Problem Child

Preface by Alfred Adler
Introduction: Man and His Fellows
Chapter I: Exaggeration of Self-Importance
Chapter II: Students Repeat a Grade
Chapter III: A Father Prevents Social Feeling
Chapter IV: A Spoiled Youngest Child
Chapter V: The Alleged Crisis of Puberty
Chapter VI: The Only Child
Chapter VII: The Discouraged Youngest Child
Chapter VIII: Feeble-Minded or Problem Child
Chapter IX: Misdirected Ambition in a Youngest Child
Chapter X: The Rejected Child
Chapter XI: An Only Child Seeks to Play a Role
Chapter XII: The Oldest Child Dethroned
Chapter XIII: Lying: A Way of Gaining Recognition
Chapter XIV: The Hero Role in Fantasy
Chapter XV: The Trouble-Makers
Chapter XVI: The Struggle for the Lost Paradise
Chapter XVII: Stealing Because of Lost Affection
Chapter XVIII: The Bed-Wetter
Chapter XIX: Enuresis: A Means of Attachment
Chapter XX: The Child With Brilliant Siblings
Chapter XXI: How I Talk to Parents
Chapter XXII: The Task of Kindergarten

Part 2: The Pattern of Life

Chapter I: A Gesture of the Whole Body
Chapter II: Maternal Domination
Chapter III: The Road to Crime
Chapter IV: Wanting to Lead
Chapter V: The Fear of Growing Up
Chapter VI: The Rebellious "Bad" Boy
Chapter VII: The Hunger Strike
Chapter VIII: Follow the Leader
Chapter IX: The Too Docile Child
Chapter X: Laying the Neurotic Foundation
Chapter XI: Congenital Feeble-Mindedness
Chapter XII: The Tyranny of Illness
Index
Appendix: "Basic Principles of Adlerian Psychology"

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