A Professional and Personal Journey of Becoming an Adlerian Depth Psychotherapist

This article presents the findings of one participant in doctoral dissertation, which explores the lived experiences of developing professional identity among classical Adlerian practitioners through interpretative phenomenological analysis. This participant is given a unisex name, Ellison, to protect their confidentiality. Ellison shares their experience of developing a professional identity as an Adlerian depth psychotherapist. Ellison explains how their personal and professional selves are intertwined and how they intentionally choose to identify themself using Adlerian and depth . By undergoing classical Adlerian depth psychotherapy training, Ellison has gained a deep understanding of human nature and is able to bring about significant therapeutic changes in their clients. Ellison attributes their success to the mentorship they have received and their multimodal approach to learning.