Karen Horney’s Perspective:
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Kate is experiencing basic anxiety.
Horney defined basic anxiety as “feelings of isolation and helplessness in a potentially hostile
world”.
Since Kate is not closed with her mother and other sisters, the death of his father became detrimental to
her mental health. She is experiencing basic anxiety because her mother did not satisfy her safety needs
and satisfaction ever since she was a child. Kate’s source of loneliness and feelings of isolation were
because she felt insignificant or unwanted to her mother because she mentioned that she is only closed
with his deceased father. More so, to protect herself from a potentially hostile world, Kate is using
defense mechanism known as affection which does not always result to authentic love. Her mindset of
finding a steady relationship ever since she turned 23 is the primary reason to support this claim.
Alfred Adler’s Perspective:
In Adlerian perspective, Kate’s possible sources of loneliness and feelings of isolation were caused by
her inferiority complex which resulted for her to experienced anxiety. Moreover, her fear of being left
behind because she is dating infrequently manifests that she is striving for personal superiority because
her goals are personal ones and not for the betterment of the society. With this, it can be concluded
that she is not psychologically healthy because a psychologically healthy individual are most likely
motivated for the social interest and success of all humankind.