Vast numbers of individuals seek their happiness from receiving recognition and approval within their family and/or their workplace. Each of these represents a kind of microcosmic cocoon in relation to larger units of population including the neighborhood, the community, and society. Adler pointed out long ago the strategy of seeking happiness from recognition and approval is flawed, even doomed to failure, because it places control of the individual’s unique life tasks into the hands of others who are likely to intervene or interfere. The probability of such interventions is highest within the family and the workplace. Why? Because parents and employers both seek to mold the thinking and behavior of the people who are under their sway. In general parents are motivated by wanting their children to grow up independent, self-reliant, successful, healthy, and happy, while in general employers want their employees to be punctual, productive, useful, helpful, and loyal. How parents and employers go about molding their charges to be what and who they want them to be varies tremendously. Some are laissez-faire, some strict, and some authoritarian, even despotic. All parents and employers come up with their own notions of good/bad and desirable/undesirable behaviors which they apply to and seek to enforce with respect to their charges by means of rewards and punishments. These actions restrict, alter, and distort the natural behaviors of their charges and their ability to pursue and achieve their unique life tasks. They can be a source of stress, distress, anxiety, depression, and substance use because the individual is not experiencing freedom, meaning or satisfaction within the family or workplace. Adler suggested that the way out is social interest. By that he meant looking at the macrocosm of the larger society and using one’s gifts, talents, resources, and life experiences to serve a purpose greater than oneself. This takes the focus off getting recognition and approval from parents or employers and seeking self-approval through freely chosen activities that serve the social interest.
