Karen Danielsen Horney
• Horney was a powerful critic of Freudian
theory who, among other things, stressed
socio-cultural influences on personality
development and neurosis.
• Horney argued that during the course of
development and the emergence of the
real self, children may experience basic
anxiety and, in some cases, a person may
develop neurotic trends or irrational
strategies of coping with basic anxiety.
Inherent Constructive Forces
• Horney’s belief in inherent constructive
forces made her much more optimistic than
Freud about the possibilities of
psychotherapy.
• According to her, Freud did not have any
clear vision of constructive forces and denied
their authentic character.
Promoted Self-Analysis
• Horney believed that people were able to
act as their own therapists, emphasizing
the personal role each person has in their
own mental health and encouraging selfanalysis and self-help.
Horney Vs. Freud
• For Freud, creativity and love were
sublimated forms of libidinal drives, and a
striving for self-fulfillment could only be
regarded as an expression of narcissistic
libido .
• For Horney, the goal of therapy was not to
transform hysterical misery into everyday
unhappiness but to help people achieve
the joy of self-realization.
Self Revelation
• Self-revelation is difficult and must be
facilitated by the therapists’ having a
genuine respect for their patients, a
sincere desire for their well-being, and a
wholehearted interest in everything they
think and feel.
• “The therapist assists them in overcoming
fear or hopelessness, giving them a sense
that their problems can be resolved.”
• Building Self Efficacy?
Living With Neurosis
• “In the course of analysis, patients must
confront not only their loss of glory but
also their unsavory characteristics, which
are the product of their neurosis. They
tend to react with unconstructive selfhate, rather than with the self-acceptance
that will enable them to grow.”
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=play
er_detailpage&v=uZq_U2hbnvs
Healthy Vs. Neurotic Forces
• The conflict between healthy and neurotic
forces may never be finally resolved, but
there may be a decisive shift in the
balance of power.
• Therapy can be terminated when the
balance has shifted decisively to the side
of the strivings for growth and patients are
ready to deal with their problems
themselves through continuing selfanalysis.
Karen Horney’s
Personality Types
• Horney identified three unconscious
strategies or movements employed by
different types of neurotic individuals to
deal with basic anxiety:
• 1) the compliant type moves toward
other people;
• 2) the hostile type moves against other
people; and
• 3) the detached type moves away from
other people.
Ideal Vs. Real Self
• Such strategies may establish an ideal self in
tension with the real self, and a neurotic person
may develop blind spots by denying experiences
that are inconsistent with the ideal self. These
neurotic solutions may induce self-hatred or a
tyranny of the should.
• Horney also investigated feminine psychology
and thoroughly criticized Freud’s account of
feminine sexuality. Horney saw gender
differences as a function of environmental and
not genetic influences.
A Feminist’s Perspective
• A revival of interest In Horney’s approach
and views began with the publication of
Feminine Psychology (New York, 1967), a
collection of her essays from the 1920s
and 30s, many of which were originally
written in German.
• She disagreed with Freud about penis
envy, female masochism, and feminine
development.
Ahead of Her Time
• These essays were controversial when
they first appeared and were largely
ignored until they reappeared in the 1967
publication.
• Since then, they have been widely read,
and there has been a growing recognition
that Karen Horney was the first great
psychoanalytic feminist.
Women Rule
• Horney argued that females have intrinsic
biological constitutions and patterns of
development that must be understood in
their own terms and not just as products
of their difference from males.
• She contended that psychoanalysis
regards women as defective men because
it is the product of a male genius (Freud)
and a male-dominated culture.
Women Rule
• The male view of the female has been
incorporated into psychoanalysis as a
scientific picture of woman's essential
nature.
• Horney developed the concept of "wombenvy," contending that male envy of
pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood,
and of the breasts and suckling, gives rise
to an unconscious tendency to devalue
women.
Women Rule
• Men's impulse toward creative work is an
overcompensation, she argued, for their
small role in procreation.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=play
er_detailpage&v=f6jfI10WMGA
Notable Contributions to
Psychology
• Because of her emphasis on selfrealization as the goal of life and the
source of healthy values, Horney was
recognized by Abraham Maslow as one of
the founders of humanistic psychology.
Notable Contributions to
Psychology
• Her theory has most in common, perhaps,
with the work of Erich Fromm, Ernest
Schachtel, Carl Rogers, and Maslow.
• Many of Horney's ideas have made their
way, often unacknowledged, into the array
of concepts and techniques that are
currently employed in clinical practice.