Horney’s Approach

Karen Horney’s social and cultural psychoanalysis considers the influence
of social and cultural forces upon the development and maintenance of
neurosis. Her theory focuses upon disturbed human relationships, especially
between parents and children. She discussed several negative factors,
such as parental indifference, erratic behavior, and unkept promises, which
contributed to basic anxiety in children. This basic anxiety led to certain defenses
or neurotic needs. Horney proposed ten neurotic needs that are used
to reestablish safety. She further summarized these needs into three categories
that depicted the individual’s adjustment to others: moving toward people
(compliant person), moving against people (aggressive person), and
moving away from people (detached person). Horney believed that neurosis
occurs when an individual lives according to his or her ideal rather than
real self. She also wrote a number of articles on feminine psychology that
stressed the importance of cultural rather than biological factors in personality
formation. Like Freud, she used the techniques of transference, dream
analysis, and free association in her psychotherapy; however, the goal of
therapy was to help an individual overcome his or her idealized neurotic self
and become more real as he or she experienced self-realization.