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karen horney

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“To find a mountain path all by oneself gives a greater feeling of strength than to take a path that is shown”. Karen Horney

Personal life:-
Karen Horney was born on September 16, 1885 (as Karen Danielson) in a village near Hamburg, Germany. She felt devoid of love from her parents. Her father preferred her brother Berndt over her. She was envious of her brother because of beauty and attention as a boy. She was smarter but she didn’t get attention by any means. This led to Horney 's depression which would affect the rest of her life. In 1906, Horney entered medical school. There, she met Oscar Horney and married in 1909. She remained in search of love throughout life and attributed it to her childhood. Oskar and Karen …show more content…

Her essays were largely ignored until they were collected in Feminine Psychology, (1967). Since then they have been widely read and cited, and Horney is now recognized as the first great psychoanalytic feminist. Horney 's work on feminine psychology was useful in promoting equality between the genders.

Theory of neurosis:-
Karen Horney developed one of the best known theories of neurosis. Neurosis is a "psychic disturbance brought by fears and defenses against these fears, and by attempts to find compromise solutions for conflicting tendencies" She believed that neurosis resulted from basic anxiety caused by interpersonal relationships. She defined basic anxiety as ‘the pervasive feeling of loneliness and helplessness’. Horney (1945) suggests that basic anxiety could result from inconsistencies in parenting, over-permissive or extremely strict parenting styles, a lack of respect for the needs of the child, too little or too much responsibility, lack of reliable warmth and a lack of a social life. These were all very damaging to a child and promoted the development of neurosis. Horney’s version of psychoanalysis looks at neurosis as a set of defenses against basic anxiety. In childhood, we try to protect ourselves against basic anxiety in four ways:
1. Being submissive
2. Gaining affection
3. Attaining power
4. Withdrawing.
The 10 neurotic needs as described by Horney are given

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