Alfred Adler was born in Austria on February 7, 1870.  He is the second of six children.  At a young age Adler became very sick with pneumonia and almost died.  He heard the doctor tell his father that he was doubtful Adler would recover, and it was at that time that Adler decided to become a doctor.  He attended the University of Vienna where he graduated with a degree in medicine.  Adler was married to Raissa Epstein; they had four children.  

Adler was invited to join Sigmund Freud's Vienna Psychoanalytic Society, and informal discussion group, but later he left the psychoanalytic movement.  Alfred Adler founded the Society for Individual Psychology.  He served as a physician in the Austrian army.  After the war Adler opened child guidance clinics in Vienna, Austria.  

Alfred Adler came to the United States in 1926 where he lectured and taught at universities.  On May 28, 1937 Adler died of a heart attack in Aberdeen, Scotland at the age of 67.