Born in Germany in 1885, Karen Horney graduated from the University of Berlin with a medical degree in 1911.
Following a few years of medical practice, Horney developed an interest in the new area of psychoanalysis and studied under Karl Abraham, Sigmund Freud’s close friend and defender of his ideas.
Horney worked in mental institutions in Berlin after studying psychoanalytic theory with Abraham. He then relocated to the United States to take a position as assistant director of the Institute for Psychoanalysis (Vena, 2015).
After that, Horney moved to New York City to teach at the New School for Social Research and establish a private psychoanalytic practice. She wrote two important pieces there: New Ways in Psychoanalysis and The Neurotic Personality of Our Time.
A critique of Freud
Horney adopted opinions on psychoanalysis that were controversial since they did not follow the traditional Freudian school of thought. She was thus denied admission to the New York Psychoanalytic Institute in 1941.
Despite her commitment to the psychoanalytic tradition, Horney thought that social and environmental factors, rather than an individual’s innate biological urges, influenced many elements of personality and neuroses.
Horney also challenged the notion that female mental health problems are a result of living in a world dominated by males, which was a significant departure from Freud’s beliefs on female psychology (Vena, 2015).
The study of the human psyche and the underlying emotional disorders that shaped it was the main emphasis of the male-dominated school of psychoanalysis in its early years. By questioning numerous dominant masculine assumptions, Karen Horney revolutionised and broadened the science of psychoanalysis. She is regarded as a pioneer in the profession.
The idea that neurotic tendencies were a product of one’s surroundings rather than an innate expression of one’s personality was contested by Horney’s views on neurotic behaviour. Those who research deviance might utilise Horney’s ideas on female psychology to explain why women commit crime, which is a very uncommon event.
Psychology-Related Contributions
Numerous areas of psychology were impacted by Horney’s work. For example, Maslow said that she was the founder of humanistic psychology, which had an impact on his development of the Hierarchy of Needs (Vanacore, 2020).Erik Erikson’s concept of “basic mistrust,” which became his initial stage of psychological development, was influenced by Horney’s term “basic anxiety.”
The interpersonal school of psychology and the psychiatric diagnosis of neurotic diseases were both influenced by Horney’s beliefs on neurosis.
Horney in turn had an impact on humanistic psychology, interpersonal psychotherapy, cultural psychology, and psychoanalytic theory (Vanacore, 2020).
Feminine Psychology
Horney’s work on feminine psychology, which questioned the conventional Freudian psychology’s perspective on women, was one of her most significant contributions.
For instance, Horney (1932) pointed out in The Flight from Womanhood that the phallocentric bias of psychoanalysis was caused by the fact that its founders, including Sigmund Freud, were nearly exclusively men.
Horney suggested that, in contrast to conventional Freudian views, females were conscious of their genitalia before to puberty and that, although girls may have “penis envy” at an early age, guys who desire breasts or motherhood may also have this desire (Horney, 1933; Vanacore, 2020).
Horney claims that penis envy results from a girl’s dissatisfaction with her father and causes a “flight from womanhood”—the wish to not be a woman. Horney, however, believed that a girl may overcome penis envy by bonding with her mother, therefore this was not unavoidable. Horney tracked the “distrust between the sexes” across culture and history. She likened the husband-wife bond to that of a father and child, describing it as one that fosters animosity and distrust. She also pointed out that women are pushed into a situation that makes them reliant on males because of the general dread and resentment of society. Horney came to the conclusion that men’s envy of women’s capacity to bear children, or “womb envy,” was the root cause of male-female animosity rather than penis envy (Horney, 1967).
This is Horney’s most obvious departure from psychoanalysis: Freud thought that women were without a penis, which made them incomplete.
Horney believed that women should be viewed and addressed according to their own terms because they are whole human beings.
Within the field of psychoanalysis, Horney’s divergent opinions on women sparked debate (Vanacore, 2020). Horney’s departure from Freud caused her to battle with notable psychologists of the period. She was often referred to by Freud as “Able and malicious,” stating that female psychoanalysts generally had a tendency to minimise penis envy in their patients since they were unable to recognise it in themselves. (Vanacore,2020)
Neurotic needs theories
Horney disagreed with Freud in that he thought that behaviour and psychological traits, particularly in neurosis, were mostly influenced by culture rather than innate urges.
Horney acknowledged that societies shape and define what neurosis is in opposition to their own standards by defining what is considered normal.
Horney developed a novel framework for neurosis. According to her, basic anxiety, which in turn results from familial circumstances that make a kid feel unwelcome, is the root cause of neurosis.
Four “neurotic trends”—affection, submissiveness, power, or withdrawal—are used by people to try to satisfy their desire for love and approval when they feel powerless or lost in the world due to this fundamental uneasiness (Horney, 1937; Vanacore, 2020).
In Neurosis and Human Growth: The Struggle Towards Self-Realization (1950), Horney expanded on her research on neurosis and put forth the concept of the “real self,” which she defined as a self that had grown in a healthy manner in the direction of self-realization. The “intrinsic potentialities that can either flourish or wither depending on the person and the circumstances” comprise the actual or prospective self, according to Horney.
Horney asserts that in order for people to become their true selves, they require a welcoming environment, the ability to feel and express emotions, and wholesome connections (Vanacore, 2020). Horney claims that one of these three neurotic tendencies is the root cause of neurosis. Neurotic persons pursue a purported “search for glory” in order to realise their “idealised selves,” as opposed to self-realization. According to Horney, self-realization is a challenging goal, but it is possible given the correct conditions.
On the other hand, the idealised self is an unattainable self that will never materialise. Neurotic persons thus develop a vicious cycle of self-loathing, or the “despised self.” The “actual self,” on the other hand, is always present and consists of one’s accomplishments, shortcomings, and strengths.
According to Horney, neurotic types respond to the idealised self in five different ways.
Individuals who approach others grow obedient personas with an idealised self that is someone who is cherished and adored. They attempt to become what other people require, which makes them weak, self-effacing, or subservient. They frequently repress their violent impulses because they think that doing so will make other people dislike or undervalue them.
People who distance themselves from others have aloof personalities that yearn for autonomy and self-reliance. They wish to be by themselves and unencumbered by the demands of others, but as Horney notes, being free from restrictions does not equate to being able to develop and be oneself (Vanacore, 2020).
Aggressive personalities who are egotistical, perfectionistic, or arrogant-vindictive are the ones who move against others. Unlike Freud, Horney believed that narcissism was a result of one’s surroundings rather than a natural characteristic. A narcissist may develop from a youngster who is loved and spoilt. Narcissistic persons may boast of their abilities without any successes or, on the other hand, experience a breakdown of reality if they fail too frequently because they are both insecure and sure of their own brilliance. Horney claims that people who are perfectionists hold themselves and other people to unreasonably high standards. Horney ascribed this to having authoritarian parents who devalued them as kids.
In their quest for perfection, which they will never attain, perfectionists see themselves as superior to others. Failure to attain a goal is equivalent to failing to attain perfection because perfectionists feel that they are fair and just and that the world ought to treat them as such (Vanacore, 2020).
Therefore, self-hatred is frequently bred by perfectionism.
Conversely, arrogant-vindictive persons reject affection in favour of pursuing revenge on those who have or may have harmed them. Because they simultaneously envy and despise other people’s pleasure, arrogant-vindictive persons may become possessive of other people and things (Vanacore, 2020).
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