KAREN HORNEY:Adjustment to Basic Anxiety, Adjustment Techniques

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Personality Psychology PSY 405

Lesson 11

KAREN HORNEY

Horney developed a theory based on two concepts:

1- Basic Anxiety

2- Neurotic Personality

1- Basic Anxiety - anxiety created when a child is born into the bigger and more powerful world of

older

children and adults.

2- Neurotic Personalities  maladaptive ways of dealing with relationships, especially parent child

relationship-based on hostility or rejection.

A woman and a parent focus on the concept of:

1- Child's feeling of insecurity creates anxiety

2- Faulty parent child relationship creates neurotic personality

Concepts of Theory

1- Basic Hostility and Basic Anxiety

2- Adjustment to Basic Anxiety

3- Classified people according to ten neurotic needs in three categories.

4- Relationship between Real Self and Ideal Self

5- Adjustment Techniques

6- Goal of Therapy

Karen Horney was born in 1885 when she was twelve year's old, she was treated by a doctor who

impressed her so much that she decided to become a doctor herself.

During the economic depression years in America people were worried about their jobs, not having enough

money to pay the rent, to provide good education to their children, to provide good medical care to their

children and to buy food. It was this philosophy that Karen Horney began to develop her own theory of

personality.

1- Basic Hostility and Basic Anxiety

In 1937, Karen Horney wrote a book called "The Neurotic Personality of our Time" in this book, Karen

Horney tried to discuss that a child has two basic needs, which are safety and satisfaction

2- Adjustment to Basic Anxiety

Karen Horney has listed ten neurotic needs or ten abnormal trends in people.

1- The neurotic need for affection and approval.

2- The neurotic need for a partner who will run one's life.

3- The neurotic need to live ones life with in narrow limits.

4- The neurotic need for power.

5- The neurotic need to exploit others.

6- The neurotic need for social recognition.

7- The neurotic need for personal admiration.

8- The neurotic need for ambition and personal achievement.

9- The neurotic need for self sufficiency and independence.

10- The neurotic need for perfection and un-assailability.

Personality Psychology PSY 405

3- In 1945, Karen Horney in her book "Our Inner Conflicts" classified ten neurotic needs in three

categories.

1-Moving Towards People

2-Moving Against People

3-Moving Away from People

4- Relationship between Real Self and Ideal Self

The real self represents all those things that are true about an individual, the ideal self reflects what one

would like to become. So the real self is the actual you and the ideal self is that what you aspire to become.

The relationship between real self and ideal self is important.

Example

The real self and the ideal self actually are the two sides of the same coin.

5- Adjustment Techniques

Freud's ego defense mechanisms and Karen Horney's adjustment techniques are the same. However, Karen

Horney has added few new and usable techniques of adjustment which are:

Blind Spots

Rationalization

Excessive self-control

Compartmentalization

Externalization

Arbitrary Rightness

Elusiveness

Cynicism

6- Goal of Therapy

In her book called Self Analysis, Karen Horney says, "that many people do not have emotional problems

because they learn to minimize conflict and try to maintain a relationship between their real and ideal self.

So the goal of psychotherapy is create a realistic relationship between the real self and ideal self." Those

people who accept themselves what they really are, they develop realistic goals for future and they have

peace and harmony with themselves.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Karen Horney was born in 1885 when she was twelve year's old, she was treated by a doctor who

impressed her so much that she decided to become a doctor herself. After becoming a doctor, she received

psycho-analytic training at Berlin. Then she began practicing psycho-analysis. In 1932 she came to

America, in New York she started her private practice and trained psycho-analysts. While practicing

psycho-analysis, Karen Horney soon discovered that Freud's theory did not fit the problems that people

were having during the economic depression in America. People were worried about their jobs, not having

enough money to pay the rent, to provide good education to their children, to provide good medical care to

their children and to buy food. It was this philosophy that Karen Horney began to develop her own theory

of personality.

BASIC HOSTILITY AND BASIC ANXIETY

In 1937, Karen Horney wrote a book called "The Neurotic Personality of our Times" in this book, Karen

Horney tried to discuss that a child has two basic needs, which are safety and satisfaction and the child is

dependent on the parents for their satisfaction and gratification. The child is helpless and dependent in the

early years of his life. Two things can happen, the parent can demonstrate true love and affection towards

Personality Psychology PSY 405

the child and satisfy his safety and satisfaction need or they can be indifferent towards the child, rejects the

child, be hostile towards the child, show obvious preference to another child, show unfair, punishment

towards the child, ridicule the child, humiliate the child, have un kept promises to the child or isolate the

child from the others. A child who is abused and rejected, develops hostility towards his parents, he tries to

repress this hostility and generalizes it towards the entire world and all the people in it. When a child

experiences love and warmth he will develop normally. But when he is abused, rejected, he will develop a

neurotic behavior or an unhealthy personality.

Adjustment to Basic Anxiety

Karen Horney has listed ten neurotic needs or ten abnormal trends in people. They are following:

The neurotic need for affection and approval.

The neurotic need for a partner who will run ones life.

The neurotic need to live ones life with in narrow limits.

The neurotic need for power.

The neurotic need to exploit others.

The neurotic need for social recognition.

The neurotic need for personal admiration

The neurotic need for ambition and personal achievement.

The neurotic need for self sufficiency and independence.

10.

The neurotic need for perfection and unassailability.

All normal people experience all the above ten needs but a normal satisfies one need at a time and then

moves on to others. The neurotic person hangs on to one need even when it is not fulfilled, he still is fixated

over it and invests all his energy in it and ignores all his other needs.

In 1945, Karen Horney in her book "Our Inner Conflicts" classified ten neurotic needs in three categories.

1-Moving Towards People

2-Moving Against People

3-Moving Away from People

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