PSYCHOANALYTIC

SOCIAL THEORY
Karen Horney
 BIOGRAPHY
• Born in 1885 in Hamburg, Germany
• Father was a ship’s captain
• Religious
• Authoritarian
• Mother was somewhat upper class
comparatively
• Felt deprived of her father’s affections and
became her mother’s “little lamb”
• Still felt basically unwanted and unloved
• Around age 12 developed crush on brother
• Pushed her away
• First bought of depression
 PSYCHOANALYTIC SOCIAL
THEORY
The psychoanalytic social theory of
Karen Horney was built on the assumption
that social and cultural conditions, especially
childhood experiences, are largely
responsible for shaping personality.
Horney, then, agreed with Freud that early
childhood traumas are important, but she
differed from him in her insistence that
social rather than biological forces are
paramount in personality development.
PSYCHOANALYTIC SOCIAL
THEORY
• In order for children to develop normally they need to
experience both genuine love and discipline.
• Such experiences provide them with feelings of safety and
satisfaction that lets them grow in accord with their real
self.
• If these needs are not met the child develops basic hostility towards
the parents.
• Repressed hostility leads to profound feelings of insecurity and a
vague sense of apprehension called basic anxiety.
 CHILDHOOD

• Horney believed that neurotic conflict can stem from almost any
developmental stage, but childhood is the age from which the vast
majority of problems arise.
• A variety of traumatic events, such as sexual abuse, beatings, open
rejection, or pervasive neglect, may leave their impressions on a child’s
future development; but Horney (1937) insisted that these debilitating
experiences can almost invariably be traced to lack of genuine warmth
and affection.
BASIC HOSTILITY

• Experienced by children who are not loved, neglected,

dominated, rejected or over indulged by their parents. If
parents do not satisfy the child’s needs for safety and
satisfaction.
• “I have to repress my hostility because I need you.”
• “I must repress my hostility because I am afraid of you.”
BASIC ANXIETY

• an “insidiously increasing, all-pervading feeling of being lonely and

helpless in a hostile world” (Horney, 1937)
• the foundation 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"

• An attempt to make life bearable. Irrational defenses against

anxiety that become a permanent part of personality and that
affect behavior
 NEUROTIC NEEDS
1. The neurotic need for affection and
approval
2. The neurotic need for a partner
3. The neurotic need to restrict one's
life to narrow borders
4. The neurotic need for power
5. The neurotic need to exploit others
and get the better of them
6. The neurotic need for social
recognition or prestige
7. The neurotic need for personal
admiration
8. The neurotic need for personal
achievement
9. The neurotic need for self-sufficiency
and independence
10. The neurotic need for perfection and
unassailability
 1. THE NEUROTIC NEED FOR AFFECTION
AND APPROVAL

Normal: Neurotic:
• It is okay that we need affection • It is when we have
but we don’t expect it from indiscriminate need to please
everyone we meet. others and be like by them.
2. THE NEUROTIC NEED FOR A
PARTNER

Normal: Neurotic:
• We all want to have a • Partner is someone who
partner that we can love will take over one’s life.
and can love us back This includes the idea that
love can solve all of one’s
problems.
3. THE NEUROTIC NEED TO RESTRICT
ONE'S LIFE TO NARROW BORDERS

Normal: Neurotic:
It is okay that we want our It is when someone wants
lives to be simple to to be undemanding, satisfied
manage. with little, inconspicuous.
Who hasn’t felt the need to
simplify life when it gets too
stressful.
4. THE NEUROTIC NEED FOR
POWER
Normal: Neurotic:
• It is okay that we have • Is when we think that
power to improve. power is for control
others, for a façade of
omnipotence. The
neurotic may be
desperate for it.
5. THE NEUROTIC NEED TO EXPLOIT
OTHERS AND GET THE BETTER OF
THEM
Normal:
• It is okay that we need to
have an effect, to have
impact, to be heard.
Neurotic:
• It can be manipulation and
the belief that people are
there to be used.
• It may also involve a fear
of being used, of looking
stupid.
6. THE NEUROTIC NEED FOR SOCIAL
RECOGNITION OR PRESTIGE
Normal:
• We are social creatures
and like to be appreciated.
Neurotic:
• These people are
overwhelmingly
concerned with
appearance and popularity.
They fear being ignored,
be thought plain, “uncool”
or “out of it”
7. THE NEUROTIC NEED FOR
PERSONAL ADMIRATION
Normal:
• We need to be admired
for inner qualities as well
as outer ones. We need to
feel important and valued.
Neurotic:
• Some people are more
desperate, and need to
remind everyone of their
importance. Their fear of
being thought nobodies,
unimportant and
meaningless.
8. THE NEUROTIC NEED FOR
PERSONAL ACHIEVEMENT

Normal: Neurotic:
• There is nothing • Some people are obsessed
intrinsically wrong with with it. They have to be
achievement. number one at everything
they do. Since this is, of
course, quite a difficult task,
you will find these people
devaluing anything they
cannot be number one in.
9. THE NEUROTIC NEED FOR SELF-
SUFFICIENCY AND INDEPENDENCE

Normal: Neurotic:
• We should all cultivate • Some people feel that
some autonomy. they shouldn't ever need
anybody. They tend to
refuse help and are often
reluctant to commit to a
relationship.
10. THE NEUROTIC NEED FOR
PERFECTION AND UNASSAILABILITY

Normal: Neurotic:
• To become better and • Some people are driven
better at life and our to be perfect and scared
special interests. of being flawed. They can't
be caught making a
mistake and need to be in
control at all times.
NEUROTIC TRENDS

■ Moving toward other people (the compliant personality)

■ Moving against other people (the aggressive personality)

■ Moving away from other people (the detached personality)

 MOVING TOWARD OTHER PEOPLE :
COMPLIANT

1. Affection and approval

2. A dominant partner
3. Power
This person will say:
“Look at me. I am so weak and
helpless that you must protect and love
me.”
MOVING AGAINST OTHER PEOPLE:
AGGRESSIVE
1. takes hostility for granted and
focuses on being powerful enough
to overcome it.
2. “survival of the fittest” mentality
3. motivated by a basic need for
control over others
MOVING AWAY FROM OTHER
PEOPLE: DETACHED
1. strive to become self-sufficient
2. marked by a strong desire to keep emotional distance
from others.
PSYCHOTHERAPY

• The general goal of Horneyian therapy is to help patients

gradually grow in the direction of self-realization.
• More specifically, the aim is to have patients give up their
idealized self-image, relinquish their neurotic search for
glory, and change self hatred to an acceptance of the real
self.
TECHNIQUES

• Horneyian therapists use many of the same ones employed by

Freudian therapists, especially dream interpretation and free
association.
• When therapy is successful, patients gradually develop
confidence in their ability to assume responsibility for their
psychological development.
• They move toward self-realization and all those processes
that accompany it.
TECHNIQUE
• Anything that suggested dogma or rules (rigid techniques
that could lead to dehumanization) was contrary to the
spirit of her theory, philosophy and goals in therapy.
• Helping the client identify on an experiential level his
neurotic character structure, the complexities of his
defensive mechanisms and underlying psychodynamic
conflicts.
• Therapist accomplishment depends on the client’s ability to
“let go”…
HORNEY'S MODEL OF THE
THERAPIST-PATIENT RELATIONSHIP

• mutual
• cooperative
• democratic
THERAPIST’S ROLE

Horney taught that therapists should attend

to the patient not only with reason and
knowledge, but also with intuition and
emotion.
THERAPIST’S ROLE

• Give a helping hand towards removing harmful forces and

supporting the healing ones.
• Therapist becomes an active and aware participant in a
cooperative venture that is also a learning process.
• The therapist indicates a hopeful attitude. Encourages
more opening up, by conveying that he is interested,
nonjudgmental and is not shocked or frightened.
SELF-ANALYSIS

• is a helpful tool for discovering the truth about one’s self

• Helping the client identify on an experiential level his neurotic
character structure, the complexities of his defensive
mechanisms and underlying psychodynamic conflicts.
• Once the person begins removing these neurotic trends, his life
will change for the better
• a process to be used in conjunction with psychoanalysis
CLIENT’S TASK

1. To be completely frank and honest with

oneself.
2. To become aware of unconscious driving
forces and motivations.
3. To develop a capacity for changing, especially
in relationships with others.
ANALYST’S SHARE
The analyst's general task is to help the client to recognize
himself and to reorient his life as far as the client himself
deems it necessary.

1. Observation
2. Understanding
3. Interpretation
4. Help in resistance
5. General human help
• For Horney, the goal of therapy was not to
transform "hysterical misery into everyday
unhappiness" but to help people achieve
the joy of self-realization.
• After completing therapy, a person can continue using self-
analysis for achieving ongoing beneficial results.
• For those without experience in psychoanalysis, Horney is a
bit more cautious. She says that severe neurosis should be
treated by a trained therapist.
• However, she also says, most cases of neurosis are not
severe, and most of these people are not seeking treatment.
These are the people who may benefit the most from self-
analysis.
• The Tyranny of the Should
• Can you name some significant “shoulds” that you have devised to
safeguard your image of self, such as being a good student or
maintaining an ideal weight?
• Can you identify the origin of your “shoulds”?
• Can you think of different “shoulds” that diverse cultures foster?
• What might happen if you were to give up one of the “shoulds”
that is giving you problems?