The autobiographical roots of Alfred Adler's Individual Psychology

Starting from the acknowledgment that a researcher's emotional life and personal history may affect his theoretical constructs, it is argued, according to some autobiographical memories of Alfred Adler, that his childhood illness affected the theoretical construction of his Individual Psychology: in particular, organ inferiority, will to power, and masculine protest. Such key aspects of his personal theory lead us to think that his childhood experiences largely molded his theorizing. It is also hypothesized that the rivalry with his eldest brother Sigmund shaped his rivalry towards Freud.