In this volume, Steffenhagen offers a practical guide to self-esteem therapy. As the author explains at the outset, self-esteem therapy is a uniquely effective therapy which stems from the seminal work of Alfred Adler and incorporates Husserl's phenomenology, George Simmel's social conflict theory, and the dialectic of Karl Marx. It can be used to combat problems resistant to other therapies such as persistent drug abuse. In fact, notes Steffenhagen, the therapy is effective even if the patient's problem cannot be readily identified--by building an individual's self-esteem, the problem...

"The Social Dynamics of Self-Esteem" introduces a unique synthesis of the theoretical views posited by Alfred Adler, Karl Marx, Georg Simmel, and Edmond Husserl in the development of a coherent theory of self-esteem. Grounded in the humanistic tradition of Adler, self-esteem theory redefines the concepts of personality as a function of both psychological and social parameters. The authors identify 18 facets of self-esteem at three levels of ego and develop three self-esteem inventories to measure each ego level. They also advance a new socio-psychological theory of deviance and develop a...