The basis psychoanalytic cure for an inferiority complex in
twofold: raise the repressed complex to the conscious level by analytical technique and
encourage the person according to the following three expressions: “Know thyself,
accept yourself, and be yourself.”4
Popenoe lists four curative steps: “recognize your
disabilities; overcome your disabilities if possible; if you can’t overcome a handicap, act
as if you don’t have it; and develop your strong points.”5
Since the complex is a problem
of deep-seated, emotionally toned ideas about one’s self, psychology considers that it can
be eliminated or minimized only by understanding how it originated, why it persists, and
then compensating for the inferiority by developing other abilities.