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Guiding Human Misfits is a book written by the daughter of Alfred Adler, the founder of individual psychology. Dr. Adler has written this book in memory of her father. She gives a description of her own work which follows her father's teachings, giving examples from her own cases and from her own experience.
Dr. Adler in this book, stressing the importance of the individual, emphasizes that each person can react differently according to his individual make up. She describes how the individual's life can be inhibited by an inferiority complex, giving a very concise and clear description of an inferiority complex. 'We say that a person is suffering from an inferiority complex when he reacts fatalistically to a crippling situation, real or fantasied, without attempting to correct or improve it.' In describing the behavior patterns of neurotics the author shows her keen powers of observation. She groups neurotics into those who postpone their duties, those who narrow their paths of approach by ruling out certain ones, and those who act 'as if' they were doing something. She sums up neurotic behavior as a 'yes-but' manner of approach: 'I would say yes but the obstacles prevent me from going ahead'.
Dr. Adler strives to show how people suffering from such difficulties can be guided to recognize their manner of behavior and can be encouraged to put up a fight against these crippling situations in order to overcome them.
Dr. Adler traces neurosis back to childhood. She considers that children who are pampered, who are disliked and who have an organic inferiority are the most handicapped. In her examples she shows that the behavior of the child is the result of its rearing by the parents, that its whole life is thus affected and that it is on that account often unable to adjust to the demands of society.
Psychoanalysis is mentioned several times in this book, especially in the chapter on dream interpretation. It compares individual psychology with psychoanalysis, but