Mosak's Meanderings:

Good Words and Bad Words?

    In every psychological sysstem there are "good" words and "bad"words. In the Adlerian system social interest, Gemeinschaftsgefuhl, cooperation, mutual respect, and purpose are among the words touted as "good," while words like competition, inferiority feeling, inferiority complex, and cause are regarded as bad.

    Such uncritical valuations are at variance with the basic assumption characterizing Adleriann psychology as a psychology of use. For example,should we give up tennis other than volleying across the net because it is competitive?. If a group of individuals cooperate to rob a bank, is that good? Inferiority feelngs may hamper some people, but as Adler pointed out they can be the source of creative and other acheivements.

    When I teach marital therapy, my students often tel me that what makes for a good marriage is mutual respect. I disagree. About the best marriage I can think of is between a sadist and a masochist. Their complementairy will be a decided asset even if they have little respect for each other and each may be seriousy disordered. As Adler put it, we can use behavior on the "useful side of life" or the "useless side of life."

    We can also stop sloganeering.