Karen Horney: Neurotic Needs and Trends
Introduction
● Trained in Psychoanalysis but would defect and part ways once she took issue with
Freud’s portrayal of women
● Influenced by childhood events and the culture of feminism in 1930 and 40’s America
● Working with people from different cultures led her to conclude that social factors largely
influence personality and that biological forces didn’t have much of a role
● Like Adler, much greater emphasis on social relationships and criticized the importance
of sex, the oedipus complex, the libido, and the three-part structure of personality
The Life of Horney (1885-1952)
● Neglected Second-Born
○ Envied her older brother since he was attractive and charming and a male, had
more power. Exemplified the idea that in that time, women were socially inferior
○ Her mother hated her dad and she doubted whether they loved her at all
● Rebellion
○ Was the perfect child to get love until age 8, then she chose to become rebellious
● Still searching for love
○ Infatuated with teachers growing up, realized that love calmed her anxieties
○ Trained to become a doctor, was admitted into med school only 6 years after the
first female was admitted
● Marriage and Career
○ Married Oskar Horne but that ended after 17 years
○ Much personal distress in early years, gave birth to three daughters but felt
unhappy and oppressed
○ Had many affairs during this time
● Psychoanalysis
○ Decided to undergo psychoanalysis to help
○ Karl Abarha (Freud loyalist) decided that her problem was being attracted to
forceful men, a residue of her oedipal childhood longings for her father
○ She thought that the therapy wasn’t successful, turned to self analysis instead
○ Came to realize that she has an Adler inferiority complex, specifically for her
physical inadequacies and role as a woman. This led to her compensation in
practicing medicine, a male dominated domain
● Still Searching for Love
○ Had an intense affair with Erich Fromm that lasted for 20 years. When that
ended, she was deeply hurt
○ She continued to have affairs and some with younger men she was training, and
grew more and more attached to them
○ For many years she was a popular lecturer, writer, and therapist
○ Held leadership positions in many psychoanalytic societies and would eventually
die in peace
, Horney Theory I: The Childhood Need for Safety and Security
● General
○ Childhood social forces influenced personality development: the child-parent
relationship must satisfy the Child’s safety need
○ Safety Need:
■ The need for security and freedom from fear
■ The extent to which they meet this need determines personality
development
● Ways of undermining a child’s security: Basic evil
○ Preference for one sibling over another, unfair punishment, erratic behavior,
promise not kept, and humiliations
○ Argued that children could tell when they’re not loved genuinely, and may repress
feelings for fear of parents
○ A lack of live in childhood fosters Basic anxieties and basic hostility
○ Sets stage for her/him to grow into a psychologically maladjusted adult
○ If her own parents can’t love her, no one will
● Repressing hostility toward parents
○ The child cannot express this hostility because they need the parents, so they
repress it or deflect it
○ Helplessness is another important factor, it’s important to not keep them helpless
through keeping them dependent. They’ll likely repress negative feelings towards
parents because they need the parent
○ False love can also force them to repress, bc they’re afraid to lose the only thing
they can get
○ Guilt is another reason to repress: guilt of being bad and so they repress feelings
to not be more bad
○
Horney Theory II: Dealing with Basic Anxiety
● Definition: Basic Anxiety, The foundation of all neurosis
○ The repressed hostility manifested
○ Insidiously increasing, all-pervading feelings of being lonely and helpless in a
hostile world
○ Feelings small, insignificant, helpless, deserted, endangered, in a world that is
out to attack and betray us
○ The foundation for all later neurosis
○ Inseparably tie to feelings of hostility, helplessness, and fear
● We calm this anxiety through gaining affection
○ We partly try to attain affection to attain security
○ Through establishing love from other people, we’re basically saying “this person
won’t hurt me”
● How to attain affection/security: the self protective mechanisms
Introduction
● Trained in Psychoanalysis but would defect and part ways once she took issue with
Freud’s portrayal of women
● Influenced by childhood events and the culture of feminism in 1930 and 40’s America
● Working with people from different cultures led her to conclude that social factors largely
influence personality and that biological forces didn’t have much of a role
● Like Adler, much greater emphasis on social relationships and criticized the importance
of sex, the oedipus complex, the libido, and the three-part structure of personality
The Life of Horney (1885-1952)
● Neglected Second-Born
○ Envied her older brother since he was attractive and charming and a male, had
more power. Exemplified the idea that in that time, women were socially inferior
○ Her mother hated her dad and she doubted whether they loved her at all
● Rebellion
○ Was the perfect child to get love until age 8, then she chose to become rebellious
● Still searching for love
○ Infatuated with teachers growing up, realized that love calmed her anxieties
○ Trained to become a doctor, was admitted into med school only 6 years after the
first female was admitted
● Marriage and Career
○ Married Oskar Horne but that ended after 17 years
○ Much personal distress in early years, gave birth to three daughters but felt
unhappy and oppressed
○ Had many affairs during this time
● Psychoanalysis
○ Decided to undergo psychoanalysis to help
○ Karl Abarha (Freud loyalist) decided that her problem was being attracted to
forceful men, a residue of her oedipal childhood longings for her father
○ She thought that the therapy wasn’t successful, turned to self analysis instead
○ Came to realize that she has an Adler inferiority complex, specifically for her
physical inadequacies and role as a woman. This led to her compensation in
practicing medicine, a male dominated domain
● Still Searching for Love
○ Had an intense affair with Erich Fromm that lasted for 20 years. When that
ended, she was deeply hurt
○ She continued to have affairs and some with younger men she was training, and
grew more and more attached to them
○ For many years she was a popular lecturer, writer, and therapist
○ Held leadership positions in many psychoanalytic societies and would eventually
die in peace
, Horney Theory I: The Childhood Need for Safety and Security
● General
○ Childhood social forces influenced personality development: the child-parent
relationship must satisfy the Child’s safety need
○ Safety Need:
■ The need for security and freedom from fear
■ The extent to which they meet this need determines personality
development
● Ways of undermining a child’s security: Basic evil
○ Preference for one sibling over another, unfair punishment, erratic behavior,
promise not kept, and humiliations
○ Argued that children could tell when they’re not loved genuinely, and may repress
feelings for fear of parents
○ A lack of live in childhood fosters Basic anxieties and basic hostility
○ Sets stage for her/him to grow into a psychologically maladjusted adult
○ If her own parents can’t love her, no one will
● Repressing hostility toward parents
○ The child cannot express this hostility because they need the parents, so they
repress it or deflect it
○ Helplessness is another important factor, it’s important to not keep them helpless
through keeping them dependent. They’ll likely repress negative feelings towards
parents because they need the parent
○ False love can also force them to repress, bc they’re afraid to lose the only thing
they can get
○ Guilt is another reason to repress: guilt of being bad and so they repress feelings
to not be more bad
○
Horney Theory II: Dealing with Basic Anxiety
● Definition: Basic Anxiety, The foundation of all neurosis
○ The repressed hostility manifested
○ Insidiously increasing, all-pervading feelings of being lonely and helpless in a
hostile world
○ Feelings small, insignificant, helpless, deserted, endangered, in a world that is
out to attack and betray us
○ The foundation for all later neurosis
○ Inseparably tie to feelings of hostility, helplessness, and fear
● We calm this anxiety through gaining affection
○ We partly try to attain affection to attain security
○ Through establishing love from other people, we’re basically saying “this person
won’t hurt me”
● How to attain affection/security: the self protective mechanisms
