Sophia deVries (1901-1999), born in Arnhem, Holland, first learned Adlerian concepts through Fritz Künkel. While in her 20s, she traveled to Italy to study with Maria Montessori. Her Adlerian concentration deepened upon attending Alfred Adler’s Amsterdam lectures during her 30s. Later, she went to Vienna for direct studies with Adler, Lydia Sicher, Alexander Müller, Rudolf Dreikurs, August Eichorn, and Karl and Charlotte Bühler, focusing on child development with the latter. World War II interrupted her doctoral studies because Adler’s and Freud’s theories were prohibited in Holland. Her permission to study was revoked after she refused to pledge loyalty to Hitler. Instead, she sought higher philosophical training in Holland, attending lectures by Carl Jung, Ludwig Klages, and Ernst Kretschmer. In 1945, she played a crucial role in re-establishing the Adlerian training group in Holland. After emigrating to the United States in 1948, she worked closely with Sicher in California. She later served 20 years as a mentor and consultant to the Alfred Adler Institute of San Francisco. Her translations of several of Adler’s writings laid the groundwork for the publication of The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler (2002-2006).
After the war, in 1945, the Adlerian training group was re-established in Holland. Sophia was chosen for the Scientific Committee on Adlerian Psychology and taught courses with Alexander Müller in Amsterdam. In 1948, Sophia immigrated to the United States, settled in Southern California, and worked closely with Lydia Sicher. She moved to Northern California in 1952, worked as a case worker for Lincoln Child Center in Oakland, and continued to teach and develop a private practice.
For nearly twenty years, she served as a mentor and consultant to the Alfred Adler Institute of San Francisco, offering study groups, case analysis seminars, supervision, and study analyses to students. Sophia provided insight and inspiration for our institute’s dedication to Adler’s original teachings and his diplomatic, creative style of treatment. One of her great contributions to Adlerian practice was her masterful adaptation of the Socratic method to psychotherapy.
Her translations of several writings of Alexander Müller and Alfred Adler provided the foundation for The Adlerian Translation Project, dedicated to translating, editing, and publishing The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler, as well as the unpublished manuscripts of Alexander Müller, Anthony Bruck, and other Classical Adlerians.
***
Erik Mansager contributed to this biographical entry.