Women in Psychology: Karen Horney

NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.

NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Karen Horney background
Theoretical perspectives
Feminine psychology
Differences from the Freudian school
The theory on anxiety (the neurotic needs)
The self-theory
Contributions of Karen Horney
References

Karen Horney (1885-1952) is a leading female psychologist of the second generation (after Freud); many of her theories and psychological concepts are still today. The essay aims at providing a brief, yet, comprehensive review of Dr. Horney’s background, theoretical perspectives, and contribution to psychology.

Introduction

Karen Horney was born in a Hamburg (Germany) suburb on 16th September 1885, and died in New York City, on the 4th of December 1952. The reasons for choosing her for this essay are; first, Horney was one of the first generations of females admitted to German universities to study medicine. Second, Horney was an eminent second-generation psychologist (after Freud’s) who adopted psychoanalysis. Finally, Horney addressed the political viewpoints of female sexuality and called for changes in male-biased views in psychology (Gilman 2001).

Karen Horney background

She loved her mother, named Clothilde Marie, but nicknamed Sonni. Karen loved and admired her brother, Berndt, although resentments surfaced every time she realized that as a male born in late nineteenth-century Germany, he led a life filled with greater opportunities than she could have. Karen’s father, Berndt Henrik Wackels Danielsen, in his late forties when she was born, had been married before, then widowed, and had four children from his first marriage. Although significantly older than Berndt and Karen, they rudely laid claim to the attention of their father. Like most men of his time, Wackels Danielsen believed that girls should be raised to become wives, mothers, and housekeepers. But his wife and his daughter could not help but notice that times were changing. Traditionally, young women in Germany completed school in the eighth grade. They were not allowed to enroll in the Gymnasium, the German word for the high school that offered classes from ninth grade on and prepared students to enter a university. Most Germans accepted the plan as a good idea, but at the turn of the century, enough were questioning the practice that rules were beginning to change. Germany’s first Gymnasium for girls opened in 1894 in Baden, a small town not far south of Hamburg. Many traditionalists were incensed and the principle to instruct boys and girls on the same level, with the same method, with the hope of reaching the same goal, is generally viewed as a psychological and pedagogical monstrosity (Hitchcock, 2005).

Horney’s mother noticed her daughter’s intelligence and Karen was intelligent and inquisitive and encouraged her to continue her study and pursuit her childhood dream of being a doctor. With her mother’s support, Karen joined the Real gymnasium in Hamburg, after which Karen joined Freiburg University (in Baden state) in 1906. In 1911, Karen completed medical education at Berlin University. In 1909 Dr. Horney married an economist and a social scientist (Oskar Horney), in 1910 Karen joined Karl Abraham to train in psychoanalysis for nearly 500 hours. In 1911, Karen joined the Berlin Psychoanalytic Society and became its secretary in 1915. When the society started its polyclinic, Dr. Horney was not only a founding member but also contributed actively designing the training program, treating patients, and teaching students. Being a female doctor, a wife, and a mother of three daughters, Dr. Horney showed great interest in female sexual development and wrote comprehensively on this subject. Despite Freud’s initial support of Dr. Horney’s feminine psychology, yet in 1931, Freud became unruffled with Horny’s daring ideas. This resulted in Horney’s isolation in Berlin, adding this to the rise of the Nazi regime she became concerned. In 1932, Franz Alexander, a psychoanalytic pioneer invited Dr. Horney to work with him at the Institute for Psychoanalysis in Chicago. Horney accepted the invitation and immigrated to the US, to move later on to New York in 1934 to work at the New York Psychoanalytic Institute (Hitchcock, 2005).

Theoretical perspectives

Dr, Horney’s theoretical beliefs and ideas passed into three stages throughout her life. During the period 1920 and 1935, Dr. Horney wrote a series of essays in which she made efforts to change the recognized ideas about feminine psychology. However, at that period Dr. Horney’s beliefs were still within the background of Freud’s theory. In the late 1930s to mid-1940s, Dr. Horney highlighted culture and interpersonal relationships in psychoanalysis and suggested they replace Freud’s biological framework. By 1945, Dr. Horney developed her theory on anxiety, in which the mechanisms of coping with anxiety resulting from being insecure, detested, and not valued are renunciation their impulsive feelings and developing highly structured strategies of defense (Paris 2000).

Feminine psychology

Dr. Horney was considered a pioneer in female psychology as she was the first female to present a paper on feminine psychology at an international meeting. Dr. Horney wrote 14 papers on feminine psychology during the period 1922 to 1937, which warranted her focal place in psychology history. Dr. Horney, being a woman, the main concern and prime objective were to clarify a better insight into females’ attitudes, trends, and development in life. In her article titled the problem of feminine masochism published in 1935, Dr. Horney showed that both culture and society persuaded females to be dependent on men emotionally, socially, and economically in terms of love, status, wealth, care, and safety. However, she pointed to the over-stress and over appraisal of men and love. In (distrust between the sexes), Dr. Horney compared the husband-wife relationship to the father-daughter one, and in (the problem of monogamous ideal) Horney spotlighted marriage. In six subsequent essays, Dr. Horney focused on marriage problems; she was one of the first female psychologists to focus on problems related to raising adolescents in the essay (maternal conflicts) (Paris 2000).

In brief, Dr. Horney tried hard to argue that females deserve to be understood in their own terms as they have their own intrinsic biology and patterns of development, and they are not just the outcome of their differences from males (Hitchcock, 2005).

Differences from the Freudian school

First, Horney understood neurosis as an alteration of normal essential human needs, thus, she considered neurosis as a disorder continuous with normal life. Further, she was convinced that neurotics cannot be put in one group separated from normal individuals, since neurotics have the need for relationship warmth and others’ support. Second and equally important, Horney looked at humanity as relational rather than instinctual. Whereas Freud explained human psychology on the basis of pleasure drive, Horney assumed this drive becomes clear only when human relations break down. Lastly, Horney believed neurosis can be cured if the basic conflict is met with attentiveness, while Freud believed the basic conflict is between an individual’s instinctual drive and a forbidding environment; therefore cannot be cured (Ridgway 2007).

The theory on anxiety (the neurotic needs)

The area of psychology where Horney achieved a renowned place was the study of neurotic personality. Dr. Horney defined neurosis as a poor adaptation to the environment and an exploitive means of dealing with relationships. Thus, although neurotic patients search for relationships to feel good; yet, the means of acquiring such relationships involve displaying the patients’ insecurity and need. This in turn results in turning others away, thus, Horney recognized neurotics deal with the world in one of three ways. First is moving toward people (compliant), driven by the desire to feel worthy and acceptance of others. This may be manifested by falling in love quickly or feeling strongly attached to somebody although may be untrue. The second is moving against people (aggressive), which is trying to forcing a patient’s power against others hoping to feel good. Such patients are usually demanding, selfish, and can be cruel. Horney’s opinion was these patients’ hostility reflects their own, what she called exteriorization. The third is moving away from people (detached), where patients display antisocial behavior and indifference to others trying to protect themselves from possible emotional pains of relationships (Heffner 2002).

The self-theory

Another way how Karen Horney looked at neurosis was in terms of self-image. Horney looked at the self as the nucleus of an individual’s life form and perspective. The neurotics’-self is divided into a despised and ideal-self, an ideal-self develops when there are imperfections in some areas of life and the individual is not living up to the ideals the patient thinks they should be. Thus, the ideal self is not a constructive objective, besides it is neither realistic nor possible. The despised self is the view that one is detested, unloved, or unvalued by those around him. Therefore, neurosis develops as a result of the individual swaying between making the belief of being perfect and detesting oneself (Tyranny of should). The end result is these two selves prevent the neurotic patients from reaching their potentials (Gudan 2008).

Contributions of Karen Horney

Coolidge et al (2004, p. 363) examined the construct validity of the three of Horney’s neurotics patterns on 127 neurotic adults and inferred the theory is still valid and useful especial in understanding personality disorders. Smith (2007, p. 57), in a review article, suggested many of Karen Horney’s theories put in the first half of the 20th Century are compatible with current psychological and psychoanalytical concepts like attachment theory and the self-theory especially Horney’s views on motivation and relationships. With appreciation to the radical and obdurate intellect, Dr. Horney developed traditional models of psychoanalysis and introduced the concept of integrating cultural and social drives into the understanding of modern human psychology (Gilman 2001).

References

Coolidge, F. L, Segal, D., L, Benight, C. C, and Danielian, J (2004). The Predictive Power of Horney’s Psychoanalytical Approach: An Empirical Study. The American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 64(4), 363-374.
Gilman, S. L (2001). Images in Psychiatry: Karen Horney, M.D., 1885-1952. Am J Psychiatry, 158 (8), 1205.
Gudan, E (2008). Karen Horney and Personal Vocation. The Catholic Social Science Review, 13, 117-127.
Heffner, C. L (2002). Personality Synopsis: Psychodynamic and Neo-Freudian Theories (Chapter 5, Section 5) [Electronic Version]. AllPsych online.
Hitchcock, S. T (2005). Karen Horney: Pioneer of Feminine Psychology. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers.
Paris, B. J (2000). The Unknown Karen Horney: Essays on Gender, Culture, and Psychoanalysis. Yale University Press: New Haven.
Ridgway, I. R (2007). 2221 Theory & Practice 1: Lecture 6: Karen Horney (1885-1952).
Smith, W. B (2007). Karen Horney and Psychotherapy in the 21st Century. Clin Soc Work J, 35, 57-66.

Click Here To Order Now!