Dr. Rudolf Dreikurs (1897-1972) founded Adler University. Dreikurs, a psychiatrist, was a colleague of Alfred Adler, and he moved to Chicago after Adler’s death in 1937. In 1952, Dreikurs founded the Institute of Adlerian Psychology that, in 1954, changed its name to the Alfred Adler Institute of Chicago, in 1991 became known as the Adler School of Professional Psychology, and in 2015, became Adler University. He founded ICASSI (The International Adlerian Summer School) in 1962, and the first summer school was held in Denmark.
As early as 1928, at the end of his medical residency, Dreikurs understood the social connection to mental disorders and the importance of prevention (Terner & Pew, 1978). Dreikurs had been exposed to Adler’s Child Guidance Clinics in the 1920s. They ultimately became firmly committed to community psychiatry and empowering parents and teachers with knowledge and approaches that led to more mutually respectful and collaborative relationships.
Although Dreikurs was based in Chicago, he was responsible for spreading Adler’s ideas throughout North America and keeping them alive internationally. Dreikurs continued the work that Adler had started, seeing the need for systematic organization and application techniques to teach others how to use Adlerian principles effectively in counseling, psychotherapy, parent education, and the classroom.
Dreikurs was often credited with elaborating, building, and working out in a clear, systematic, and logical form the basic ideas of Individual Psychology. While most agree that his most significant contribution was in the application and practice of Individual Psychology, some felt he also contributed to creating the original theory. He is most well-known for his simplification and application of Adler’s ideas for use by parents and educators. In 1964, along with Vicki Soltz, he published Children: The Challenge, and in 1968, he and Loren Grey wrote A Parent’s Guide to Child Discipline. His other books include Maintaining Sanity in the Classroom (with Bronia Grunwald & Floy Pepper), as well as “Challenge of Parenthood” and “Challenge of Marriage.”
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Latest edits by Dr. Eva Dreikurs Ferguson 1.27.2025