The life of Olive Schreiner: a psychobiography

English: Olive Schreiner (1855-1920) was a famous South African novelist and humanitarian. A remarkable and enigmatic woman, her life and work have inspired a substantial amount of research by Schreiner scholars representing a diversity of academic disciplines. They continue to speculate about the extent of her contribution to society, the degree to which she realised her potential as a writer and the nature of her psychological disturbance. Olive was chosen as the subject of this research because she was so interesting, complex and controversial. She has been the subject of numerous biographies. All have offered interpretations of her life and some have employed formal theories of psychology to do so. None has utilised explicit or established psychological research designs and methodologies. The aim of this study was to conceptualise Olive’s life in terms of the principles of Individual Psychology, thereby providing an illuminating account of her life and offering explanations of her creativity, altruism, psychological difficulties and general personality development. Individual Psychology is the theory developed by Alfred Adler (1870-1937). It is a holistic theory, emphasising subjectivism and the creative roles of individuals in developing their lifestyles. Adler’s work has had a significant influence on psychotherapeutic practice although he has received comparatively little recognition for his contributions to contemporary psychology. The autobiographical nature of the Adlerian concept of lifestyle and the theory’s focus on the uniqueness of human beings means that it is well suited to the study of individual lives. The study can be described as life history research. It employed a single case, holistic design and entailed a psychobiographical study of a single subject over an entire lifespan. The research was explanatory and the method was qualitative. Two strategies for data extraction and analysis were employed. One entailed the use of theoretical propositions to identify relevant data, and the other involved the development of a descriptive framework for organising the case material. The combination of these strategies enabled the researcher to obtain evidence for key theoretical constructs throughout Olive’s life. This type of psychobiographical research is useful in understanding rare or unique phenomena and its application to the lives of enigmatic individuals facilitates theory development and testing. The researcher concluded that Individual Psychology was well suited to conceptualising Olive’s life, and that it offered a plausible and coherent explanation of her moral development, creativity and her psychological distress. Olive’s lifestyle, in accordance with the tenets of Individual Psychology, was understood to be motivated by a deep sense of inferiority which she spent her life striving to overcome. To this end, and in an attempt to protect her fragile sense of self-worth, she employed particular symptoms. Most obvious were her attempts at safeguarding her self-esteem by distancing herself from life’s challenges. In many respects she displayed evidence of the Adlerian concept social interest, or a commitment to the welfare of others. The study of Olive’s personality provided a positive demonstration of the value of Adler’s theory. The validity of the construct social interest as the primary indicator of mental health was questioned. Suggestions for further research were made.