Adler Inferiority Complexes and the News

Adlerian Concept News Article

Anecdotally, due to the overcrowded, overcommitted nature of many modern lives, stress levels are rising. Additionally, the constant bombardment of news that has a personal impact (like the pandemic) or a world impact (like the threat of war) can contribute to a highly stressed environment. Once concept in Adlerian theory is how stress responses can be viewed as learned behaviors, even though all humans encounter stress. Learning influences how and why certain experiences are seen as stressful; the ability to collaborate and move beyond egoism can inhibit the stress response in a productive fashion (Mosak & Maniacci, 1999).

Unfortunately, the social isolation of the past two years has stymied many of these altruistic connections. Additionally, according to Drillinger (2022), the 24/7 news cycle and the ability to be exposed to negative news on an ongoing loop, can further trigger the stress response. Many of the effective coping mechanisms described in Alder, like feeling a sense of competency due to a healthy ego state can be thwarted when exposed to problems that feel so big and overwhelming, one person’s actions can seem very meaningless. This can carry over into other facets of the individual’s life, even in regards to smaller, relatively minor issues that do have a solution. Adler noted that sometimes a sense of inferiority can be motivational, and can encourage people to step outside their comfort zones and to achieve the seemingly impossible (Mosak & Maniacci, 1999). However, the current news cycle is fostering a sense of hopelessness and helplessness with no clear end in sight (Drillinger, 2022). Even in situations where things have shown some small improvement, such as the rollback of pandemic restrictions, the so-called wins have been smaller than initially hoped in some respects. Safeguarding measures such as aggression or withdrawing (lashing out at those with whom one disagrees with, or refusing to engage at all) may be easier to engage in through social media, which may further exacerbate stress (Mosak & Maniacci, 1999; Drillinger, 2022).