“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
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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
Infantile neurosis can easily be compared to adult neurosis but infantile neurosis is the original type of neurosis. Adult neurosis is based off of child neurosis. After the analyst understands what type of infantile neurosis the child has, the analyst may be able to predict: the type of Adult neurosis the client may develop, and the transitioning symptoms from the infantile neurosis to adult neurosis that are displayed. Both childhood neurosis and adult neurosis share similar symptoms: hysteria, obsessional neurosis, inhibitions and hysteria. There are physical characteristics such as vomiting, refusing to eat, animal phobias, and agoraphobias. Obsessional neurosis is another type of neurosis that displays the daily habits or ritual a person performs. It is the execution of a task in only one particular manner. For a person who has obsessional neurosis, there is not any other way to accomplish that task but that one way. Children learn inhibitions through inhibited play and other techniques that will help the children learn to not display certain negative behaviors. These learned inhibition behaviors can possibly produce a crippling effect on that individual’s (child or adult) personality due to the fact that they are not allow to display their real personality. Societal laws negatively reinforce certain behaviors so that they are not seen or displayed in public
While Psychoanalysis has provided many psychological breakthroughs in the field of mental health, it has also created great issue in relation to gender equality. Freud’s Psychoanalytic theory has contributed to the solidification of female oppression, and to the inferior status of women in the twentieth century. Psychoanalysis had become so intwined into the constructs of a male dominated society that it creates further barriers in attempts for gender equality. While many people have established their point of view through scholarly journals or scientific writings, Angela Carter uses an artistic approach by contesting Freud’s psychoanalytic theory in her
Karen Horney is one of the preeminent figures and founders of modern psychoanalysis. Although her ideas are not widely taught today or accepted as a basis of psychoanalysis in and of themselves, her ideas of social and environmental influences are “integrated into modern psychoanalysis therapies and personality development theory” (Quinn). She was a contemporary of Sigmund Freud and was one of his early followers. Yet Horney joined the class of neo-Freudians after her research and writing led her to develop and establish psychoanalytical theories that ran counter to Freud's ideas. She objected to the Freudian psychology of women, which instigated the search for her own theories for the causes of neurosis. This in turn led to her
She began to perceive people in different ways after being exposed to the psychiatric training process. She quotes, “we would assume that other people are just like us - normal human beings - until it becomes apparent that they are not since they either have mental illnesses or diseases” (Luhrmann 5). To understand why people suffer and why they are categorized as “different”, there are multiple reasons for why an individual could cater a mental illness or a disease: the most important risk factor happens to be social isolation (Luhrmann 18). Recently, depression and mood disorders became more common in the twentieth century because there were no other times in human history where so many people have thoughts of being lonely (Luhrmann 18). Backgrounds also help explain where people are coming from and are key in providing an explanation of how a psychiatric illness could be hereditary (Luhrmann 18). For example, living under war-like conditions can bring post-traumatic stress disorders and shape the way people interact inside
In Matthew Hedger’s article “Yosemite National Park Day Hikes: Vernal Falls Death March”, he claims that you don’t always know what you’re getting into and find that things are harder than they seem. Hedger supports his claim with a story of his hike up Vernal Falls. His purpose is to inform his readers that you can always get through difficult things and that they’re stronger than they think. The intended audience is anyone who enjoys a good story and wants to know about hiking.
”The impossible is doable as long as you have a great brother and good trails friends. Uncertainty is all. Crazyass passion is the staple of life and persistence its nourishing force. Without them, you cannot cross the trail” (416).
Strayed had gone through quite a bit before deciding on taking a hiking trip on the Pacific Crest Trail. Strayed thought the Pacific Crest Trail would help her find who she was before her mother’s death. To illustrate, “I’d set out to hike the trail so I could reflect upon my life, to think about everything that had broken me and make myself whole again” (84). This hiking trip was her way to find the person she was before her mother died. After hiking for three weeks she noticed, “I am not afraid… I realized…I’d done to myself and all that had been done to me” (122). Having spent three week hiking up Strayed become aware of a change in herself, she began showing confidence in herself (122). Her confidence is practically oozing out of her by the end of her journey (310). She tries to pass her confidence on to another person who was considering going on a similar journey on the Pacific Crest Trail. She emphasized, ‘“You could. You should. Believe me, if I can do this, anybody can”’ (310). Strayed has truly understood who she is after hiking eleven hundred miles through gruesome and extreme environments. Now, she is an inspiration to those who have hit rock bottom and need to find
Throughout the early days of psychology, opportunities for women where limited and it was an extremely difficult time for women to become apparent in the field of psychology. Women struggled for equality in the field of psychology and this began with our pioneers, Mary Whiton Calkins, who sat her PhD but was never awarded it, Margaret Washburn, being the first women to be awarded a PhD and Christine Ladd Franklin.
Until the medical breakthroughs that we have made in the modern day, psychology as a science was not fully understood. Modern technology has given us a clearer idea of psychology, but in the past there was less known about the science. This alongside a predominantly male medical discourse led to a medical diagnosis in many women called hysteria. Female hysteria was a medical diagnosis given to specifically women as far back as the ancient Greek civilization. Hysteria started as a supernatural phenomena, but as medicine evolved it would be described as a mental disorder, (Tasca). Hysteria. in actuality, is an absurd and fabricated diagnosis that institutionalized and discriminated countless women. The way it makes a women feel, and the fact that it strips a woman of any sort of free will is a sickening display of blatant misogyny. “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman perfectly displays not only the misogyny, but the torture a woman must face trapped under a hysteria diagnosis. Hysteria as a diagnoses fails to effectively treat many women, instead leading to the mistreatment and wrongful institutionalization of women.
Singer/actress Lena Horne's primary occupation was nightclub entertaining, a profession she pursued successfully around the world for more than 60 years, from the 1930s to the 1990s. In conjunction with her club work, she also maintained a recording career that stretched from 1936 to 2000 and brought her three Grammys, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1989; she appeared in 16 feature films and several shorts between 1938 and 1978; she performed occasionally on Broadway, including in her own Tony-winning one-woman show, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music in 1981-1982; and she sang and acted on radio and television. Adding to the challenge of maintaining such a career was her position as an African-American facing discrimination
Karen Horney and Alfred Adler are two very similar yet different neo-analytic theorists. At first glance, it may appear that Horney stole some of Adler's best ideas. It is, of course, quite conceivable that she was influenced by Adler. It is clear, for example, that Horney’s three neurotic solutions are very close to Adler's personality typology. Horney proposed a series of strategies used by neurotics to cope with other people and Adler developed a scheme of so called personality types that he intended to illustrate patterns that could denote a characteristic governed under the overall style of life.
In reality, this is usually not the case. It is true that you should not lose faith in times of struggle, but a floundering road may not always lead to success. Thus, this line gives the audience a false sense of security that even a wandering path will lead to ultimate prosperity. Instead, they should have the mindset that there is a chance that they may not reach the goals they have established. However, the path they took did provide opportunities to grow, learn, and discover any hidden talents and desires.
It feels as though most of the time when thinking about psychology and the great contributions that have been made to it, that most of them have been from men, but along the way there have been several influential women that have contributed to the field of psychology as well. Just like men, there were several women who were pioneers, theorists, and counselors; many of these women have contributed to the field of psychology in their own special between the years of 1850 and 1950. Of all these amazing women who are pioneers, theorists, and counselors, the one who stands out the most is Anna Freud. This paper will go on to explain Anna Freud’s
When we study the history of psychology one might assume there were minimal female contributors, but that is a big misconception. Women in the past struggled with discrimination and many hurdles to gain recognition for their work. Women psychologists have gone largely unrecognized, unappreciated, and almost unseen to historical accounts. The lack of acknowledgement for women psychologists in today’s study takes away from the comprehensive study to our generation. It is exceedingly important that we receive a well-rounded education of all the great psychologists in history and not only the male founders. The following women I will discuss mention only a few who have made an influence in psychology.
The second perspective is the psychodynamic perspective. The psychodynamic perspective emphasizes how the role of early childhood experiences, the unconscious mind and interpersonal relationships play a part in abnormal behavior. This perspective evolved from Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytical theory which generally contended that psychological disorders are the outcome of anxiety which is produced by unresolved, unconscious conflicts.