Karen Horney

Karen Horney

Karen Horney [horn-eye], née Danielsen (September 16, 1885, – December 4, 1952) was a German Freudian psychoanalyst of Norwegian and Dutch descent. Her theories questioned some traditional Freudian views, particularly his theory of sexuality, as well as the instinct orientation of psychoanalysis and its genetic psychology. As such, she is often classified as "neo-Freudian".

Early life

Karen Horney was born Karen Danielsen on September 16, 1885 in Hamburg. Her father, Berndt Wackels Danielson, was a ship's captain, an authoritarian, and religious (his children nicknamed him "the Bible-thrower" for his actions). Her mother, Clotilde (known as "Sonni") was very different, being much more urbane than Berndt. Karen's older brother was also named Berndt, and Karen cared for him deeply. She also had four elder half-siblings from her father's previous marriage

Horney's childhood was marked by misperceptions. She once painted a picture of her father, representing him as a cruel disciplinarian figure holding his son Berndt in higher regard than herself. Instead of being offended or feeling indignation over Karen's perceptions of him, her father bought her gifts and even took her for sea voyages on his boat. Despite this, Karen always felt deprived of her father's affection — instead becoming attached to her mother, who referred to Karen as her "little lamb."

From roughly the age of nine Horney changed her perspective on life, becoming ambitious and somewhat rebellious. She felt that she could not become pretty and instead decided to vest her energies into her intellectual qualities — stating her intentions despite the fact she was seen by most as pretty. At this time she developed a crush on her older brother, who became embarrassed by her attentions — soon pushing her away. It was here Horney suffered her first of several bouts of depression — an issue that would plague her for the rest of her life.

Education and youth

In 1904 Horney's parents divorced, her mother vacating their residence with both children. Soon thereafter, in 1906, Horney entered medical school at the University of Freiburg — despite the fact both parents were unsupportive of the idea, as was opinion within contemporary society at the time. The University of Freiburg was in fact one of the first institutions throughout Germany to enroll women in medical courses — with higher education only becoming available to women in Germany in 1900. By 1908, Horney had transferred to the University of Göttingen, and would transfer once more to the University of Berlin before her graduation in 1913.

It was during her time as a medical student that she met Oskar Horney, whom she married by 1909. The following year Horney gave birth to a daughter, Brigitte, who was to be the first of three daughters. By this time Horney had refined her interests and was keen to pursue study in the then pioneering pursuit of psychoanalysis. Horney's mother died in 1911, an event which put much strain on the young Karen. Her marriage with Oskar proved compliant with Freudian theory; he was just as authoritarian and strict with his children as Horney's own father was with his. During these years, Horney was receptive to having her children raised in this atmosphere; it was only later, during the 1920s, that her attitude towards child rearing changed.

Career and works

In 1920 Horney took up a position within the Institute for Psychoanalysis in Berlin, where she was to lecture on psychoanalysis for several years. Karl Abraham, a correspondant of Sigmund Freud, regarded Karen Horney as an extensively gifted analyst and teacher of psychoanalysis.

By 1923, Oskar Horney's firm had become insolvent, with Oskar developing meningitis soon thereafter. Oskar rapidly became embittered, morose and argumentative. It was also in 1923 that Karen's brother died of a pulmonary infection. Both of these events contributed to a worsening of Karen's mental health. She entered into a second state of abject depression; she swam out to sea during a vacation and considered committing suicide, such was her condition at the time.

In 1926, Karen and her three daughters moved out of Oskar's house. Four years later, they emigrated to the United States, eventually settling in Brooklyn. At the time, Brooklyn was home to a large intellectual community; this was due in part to a high influx of Jewish refugees from Europe, particularly Germany. It was in Brooklyn that Karen became friends with academics such as Erich Fromm and Harry Stack Sullivan, at one point embarking on an intimate relationship with the former.

Horney quickly set about establishing herself. Her first career posting in the United States was as the Associate Director of the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis. It was while living in Brooklyn that Horney developed and advanced her composite theories regarding neurosis and personality, based on experiences gained from working in psychotherapy. In 1937 she published the book The Neurotic Personality of Our Time, which had wide popular readership. By 1941, Horney was Dean of the American Institute of Psychoanalysis, a training institute for those who were interested in Horney's own organization, the Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis. Horney founded this organization after becoming dissatisfied with the generally strict, orthodox nature of the psychoanalytic community.

In the end, Horney's deviation from Freudian psychology led to her resigning from her post, and she soon took up teaching in the New York Medical College. She also founded a journal, named the American Journal of Psychoanalysis. She taught at the New York Medical College and continued practicing as a psychiatrist until her death in 1952.

Theory of neurosis

Horney looked at neurosis in a different light from other psychoanalysts of the time. Her expansive interest in the subject led to her compiling a detailed theory of neurosis, in part garnering data from her patients. Horney believed neurosis to be a continuous process — with neuroses commonly occurring at points in peoples lives. This was in contrast to the opinions of her contemporaries who believed neurosis was, like more severe mental conditions, a negative malfunction of the mind in response to external stimuli, such as bereavement, divorce or negative experiences during childhood and adolescence.

Horney believed these assumptions to be less important, save for influences during childhood. Rather, she placed significant emphasis on parental indifference towards the child, believing that a child's perception of events, as opposed to the parent's intentions, is the key to understanding a person's neurosis. For instance, a child might feel a lack of warmth and affection should a parent make fun of the child's feelings, thereby underestimating the significance of the child's state. The parent may also casually neglect to fulfill promises, which in turn could have a detrimental effect on the child's mental state.

From her experiences as a psychiatrist, Horney named ten patterns of neurotic needs. These ten needs are based upon things which she thought all humans require to succeed in life. Horney distorted these needs somewhat to correspond with what she believed were individuals' neuroses. A neurotic person could theoretically exhibit all of these needs, though in practice much fewer than the ten here need be present to constitute a person having a neurosis. The ten needs, as set out by Horney, (classified according to her so-called coping strategies) are as follows:

Moving Toward People

• 1. The need for affection and approval; pleasing others and being liked by them.
• 2. The need for a partner; one who can love and solve all problems.

Moving Against People

• 3. The need to restrict life practices to within narrow borders; to live as inconspicuous a life as possible.
• 4. The need for power; the ability to bend wills and achieve control over others — while most persons seek strength, the neurotic may be desperate for it.
• 5. The need to exploit others; to get the better of them. To become manipulative, fostering the belief that people are there simply to be used.
• 6. The need for social recognition; prestige and limelight.
• 7. The need for personal admiration; for both inner and outer qualities — to be valued.
• 8. The need for personal achievement; though virtually all persons wish to make achievements, as with No. 4, the neurotic may be desperate for achievement.

Moving Away from People

• 9. The need for self sufficiency and independence; while most desire some autonomy, the neurotic may simply wish to discard other individuals entirely.
• 10. Lastly, the need for perfection; while many are driven to perfect their lives in the form of well being, the neurotic may display a fear of being slightly flawed.

Upon investigating the ten needs further, Horney found she was able to condense them into three broad catagories:

Compliance

Needs one, two and three were assimilated into the "compliance" category. This category is seen as a process of "moving towards people", or self-effacement. Under Horney's theory children facing difficulties with parents often use this strategy. Fear of helplessness and abandonment occurs — phenomena Horney refers to as "basic anxiety". Those within the compliance category tend to exhibit a need for affection and approval on the part of their peers. They may also seek out a partner, somebody to confide in, fostering the belief that, in turn, all of life's problems would be solved by the new cohort. A lack of demanding and a desire for inconspicuousness both occur in these individuals.

Aggression

Secondly, neurotic persons may employ "aggression", also called the "moving against people", or the "expansive" solution. Needs four, five, six, seven and eight comprise this category: Neurotic children or adults within this category often exhibit anger or basic hostility to those around them. That is, there is a need for power, a need for control and exploitation, and a maintenance of a facade of omnipotence. Manipulative qualities aside, under Horney's assertions the aggressive individual may also wish for social recognition, not necessarily in terms of limelight, but in terms of simply being known (perhaps feared) by subordinates and peers alike. In addition, the individual has needs for a degree of personal admiration by those within this person's social circle and, lastly, for raw personal achievement. These characteristics comprise the "aggressive" neurotic type. Agressive types also tend to keep people farther away from them. On the other hand, aggressives only care about their wants and needs. They will do whatever they want to do to a person if it makes them happy. They don't care if they hurt anyone, as long as they're getting what they want. They think that everyone is there for their own convenience and to bow down to them.

Withdrawal

Thirdly, and lastly, is "withdrawal". This category encompasses the final two needs, and overlaps with the "compliance" trait. "Withdrawal" is often labelled as the "moving-away-from" or "resigning" solution. As neither aggression nor compliance dispense with parental indifference, Horney recognized that children might simply solve the problem by becoming self sufficient. The withdrawing neurotic may simply discard others in a non-aggressive manner, regarding solitude and independence as the way forth. The stringent needs for perfection comprise the other half of this category; those withdrawing may strive for perfection above all else, to the point where being flawed is utterly unacceptable. Everything the "withdrawal" type does must be unassailable and refined.

Mature theory

Near the end of her career, Karen Horney summarized her ideas in Neurosis and Human Growth, her major work published in 1950. It is in this book that she summarizes her ideas regarding neurosis, clarifying her three neurotic "solutions" to the stresses of life. The expansive solution became a tripartite combination of narcissistic, perfectionistic and arrogant-vindictive approaches to life. (Horney had previously focused on the psychiatric concept of narcissism in a book published in 1939, New Ways in Psychoanalysis). Her other two neurotic "solutions" were also a refinement of her previous views: self-effacement, or submission to others, and resignation, or detachment from others. She described case studies of symbiotic relationships between arrogant-vindictive and self-effacing individuals, labelling such a relationship bordering on sadomasochism as a morbid dependency. She believed that individuals in the neurotic categories of narcissism and resignation were much less susceptible to such relationships of co-dependency with an arrogant-vindictive neurotic.

As implied, while non-neurotic individuals may strive for these needs, neurotics exhibit a much deeper, more willful and concentrated desire to furfill said needs. Horney, together with fellow professional Alfred Adler, formed the Neo-Freudian discipline.

Basic Evil

Basic Evil is the terminology that Psychologist Karen Horney utilized to explain what my cause psychosis or neurosis. Basic evil can also be referred to as poor parenting to the point in which it is or borders child abuse. Basic Evil incorporates:

- Indifference toward the child

- Rejection of the child

- Hostility toward the child

- Obvious preferences for a sibling

- Unfair punishment

- Ridicule

- Humiliation

- Erratic behavior

- Unkept promises

- Isolation of the child from others Basic Evil is the cause of Basic Anxiety and Basic Hostility. In effect, Horney argues that bad parenting is the root of all our problems.

Basic Hostility

Basic Hostility is a psychological concept first described by psychoanalyst Karen Horney. It is an effect of Basic Evil. Horney described it as a bad attitude which develops in the child as a result of Basic Evil, such as parental abuse. The child is mistreated and becomes angry, but can do nothing as he is dependent upon the very persons who mistreat him.

The pattern of Basic Hostility

• The child wants to leave, but cannot. Although the child wants to avoid the abuse, his parents are perpetrating it.
• The child cannot move away or fight back against his parents because he is dependent on them.
• The child therefore redirects his feelings and expressions of hostility toward people he does not depend on for support.

According to Horney, some children find basic hostility to be an aggressive coping strategy and continue using it to deal with life's problems.

Basic Anxiety

Basic Anxiety is a term used by the psychologist Karen Horney to explain the ramifications of poor parenting. Basic anxiety is deep insecurity and fear that have developed in the child because of the way they were treated by their parents. It is developed because of the conflict with dependency and hostility towards mom, dad, or both.

Horney argued that a child is tied to his or her parent because of dependence, not sex (as Sigmund Freud would argue). The child is dependent on the mother and father for food, shelter, and the basic needs. However, the child realizes that no matter how terrible mother and father treat him or her, he or she has nowhere to go because they are so dependent on the parents.

Anxiety generalizes and everyone becomes a potential threat. What initiated as anxiety towards the parents becomes anxiety towards everyone. “If mom and dad can treat me so bad, and they are my parents, how much worse is everyone else?”

The world is seen as hostile and unreliable. Everyone is perceived as a threat and it is just safer to avoid everyone because everyone causes anxiety.

Neo-Freudism

While Horney acknowledged and agreed with Freud on many issues, she was also critical of him on several key beliefs. Freud's notion of "penis envy" in particular was subject to criticism by Horney. She thought Freud had merely stumbled upon women's jealousy of men's generic power in the world. Horney accepted that penis envy might occur occasionally in neurotic women, but stated that "womb envy" occurs just as much in men: Horney felt that men were envious of a woman's ability to bear children. The degree to which men are driven to success may be merely a substitute for the fact that they cannot carry, nurture and bear children.

Horney was bewildered by psychiatrists' tendency to place so much emphasis on the male sexual organ. Horney also reworked the Freudian Oedipal complex of the sexual elements, claiming that the clinging to one parent and jealousy of the other was simply the result of anxiety, caused by a disturbance in the parent-child relationship.

Despite these variances with the prevalent Freudian view, Horney strove to reformulate Freudian thought, presenting a holistic, humanistic view on individual psyche which placed much emphasis on cultural and social differences worldwide. She shared Abraham Maslow's view that self-actualization is the ultimate pinnacle of human achievement. This view is expressed somewhat by the renowned Maslow's hierachy theory. To date, Horney is the only female psychiatrist to have her views and theorems analyzed and placed in textbooks regarding human personality.

Theory of the self

Following from her views on the individual psyche, Horney postulated that the self is in fact the core of one's own being and potential. Horney believed that if one has an accurate conception of oneself, then one is free to realize one's potential and achieve what one wishes, within reasonable boundaries. Thus, she believed that self-actualization is the healthy person's aim through life — as opposed to the neurotic's clinging to a set of key needs.

Horney believed that we have two views of ourselves. The "real self" and the "ideal self". The real self is who and what we actually are. Examples would being parent, child, sister, etc. The real self contains potential for growth, happiness, will power, gifts, etc. The real self has deficiencies that we don't like. The ideal self is the type of person we feel that we should be and is used as a model to assist us in developing our potential and achieving self-actualization (Engler 125). Self-actualization is something that individuals strive for. It is important to know the differences between your ideal and real self. Since the neurotic person's self is split between an idealized self and a corresponding despised self, individuals may feel that they lack somehow — that they are not living up to ideals. They feel that there is a flaw somewhere in comparison to what they "should" be. The goals set out by the neurotic are not realistic, or indeed possible. The despised self, on the other hand, has the feeling that it is despised by those around them, and assumes that this incarnation is its "true" self. Thus, the neurotic is like a clock's pendulum, oscillating between a fallacious "perfection" and a manifestation of self-hate. Horney referred to this phenomenon as the "tyranny of the shoulds" and the neurotic's hopeless "search for glory".. She concluded that these ingrained traits of the psyche forever prevents an individual's potential from being actualized unless the cycle of neurosis was somehow broken, through treatment or otherwise.

Feminine psychology

Horney was also a pioneer in the discipline of feminine psychiatry. As one of the first female psychiatrists, she was the first of her gender to present a paper regarding feminine psychiatry. The fourteen papers she wrote between 1922 and 1937 were amalgamated into a single volume titled Feminine Psychology. As a woman, she felt that the mapping out of trends in female behaviour was a neglected issue. In her essay entitled "The Problem of Feminine Masochism" Horney felt she proved that cultures and societies worldwide encouraged woman to be dependent on men for their love, prestige, wealth, care and protection. She pointed out that in society as a whole a will to please, satiate and overvalue men had emerged. Women were regarded as objects of charm and beauty — at variance with every human being's ultimate purpose of self-actualization.

Women, according to Horney, traditionally gain value only through their children and the wider family. She touches further on this subject in her essay "The Distrust Between the Sexes" in which she compared the husband-wife relationship to a parent-child relationship — one of misunderstanding and one which breeds detrimental neuroses. Most notably her work "The Problem of the Monogamous Ideal" was fixed upon marriage, as were six other of Horney's papers. Her essay "Maternal Conflicts" attempts to shed new light on the problems women experience when raising adolescents.

Horney believed that both men and women have a motive to be ingenious and productive. Women are able to satisfy this need not only normally and interiorly. To do this it pleases the need by becoming pregnant and giving birth, along with the external world. Men please this need only through external ways, which says that Horney proposed that the striking accomplishments of men in work or some other fields can be viewed as damages for their failure to tolerate children.

Horney developed her ideas to the extent that she released one of the first "self-help" books in 1946, entitled Are you considering psychoanalysis?. Those, both male and female, with relatively minor neurotic problems could, in effect, be their own psychiatrists. She continually stressed that self-awareness was a part of becoming a better, stronger, richer human being.

Posthumous influences

Numerous websites containing and espousing her theories are in existence. While Horney has not received significant recognition amongst those within the psychiatric community, she nonetheless has followings within certain circles within the medical community and academia. Her major works are still in print and continue to have a wide readership.

Karen Horney clinic

The Karen Horney clinic opened on May 6, 1955 in New York City, in honor of Horney's achievements in her field. The institution seeks to research and train medical professionals, particularly in the psychiatric fields, as well as serving as a low cost treatment center.

Works by Karen Horney

The following are all still in print:

• Neurosis and Human Growth, Norton, New York, 1950. ISBN 0-393-00135-0
• Are You Considering Psychoanalysis? Norton, 1946. ISBN 0-393-00131-8
• Our Inner Conflicts, Norton, 1945. ISBN 0-393-00133-4
• Self-analysis, Norton, 1942. ISBN 0-393-00134-2
• New Ways in Psychoanalysis, Norton, 1939. ISBN 0-393-00132-6
• The Neurotic Personality of our Time, Norton, 1937. ISBN 0-393-01012-0
• Feminine Psychology (reprints), Norton, [1922-37] 1967. ISBN 0-393-00686-7
• The Collected Works of Karen Horney (2 vols.), Norton, 1950. ISBN 1-199-36635-8
• The Adolescent Diaries of Karen Horney, Basic Books, New York, 1980. ISBN 1-158-49424-3
• The Therapeutic Process: Essays and Lectures, ed. Bernard J. Paris, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1999. ISBN 0-300-07527-8
• The Unknown Karen Horney: Essays on Gender, Culture, and Psychoanalysis, ed. Bernard J. Paris, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2000. ISBN 0-300-08042-5

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Paris, Bernard J. Karen Horney: a Psychoanalyst's Search for Self-understanding, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1994. ISBN 0-300-06860-3
• Quinn, Susan. Mind of Her Own: the Life of Karen Horney, Summit Books, New York, 1987. ISBN 0-333-46393-5
• Rubins, Jack L. Karen Horney: Gentle Rebel of Psychoanalysis, Summit Books, New York, 1978. ISBN 0-8037-4425-0
• Westkott, Marcia. The Feminist Legacy of Karen Horney, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1986. ISBN 0-300-04204-3

External links

• The American Institute for Psychoanalysis
• International Karen Horney Society
• Women's Intellectual Contributions to the Study of Mind and Society: Karen Horney at Webster.edu
• Lecture notes alongside psychological opinions at Sonama.edu
• Personality Theories page on Karen Horney
• PTypes - Personality Types Basic Anxiety

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