Psychoanalytic Social Theory

Karen Horney

“Life itself still remains a very effective therapist.” – K. Horney

Karen Danielsen Horneyψ Born in Blankenese, small town near Hamburg,

Germany as Karen Clementina Theodora Danielsen on September 15, 1885

ψ Only daughter of Berndt (Wackels) Danielsen, sea captain and Clothilda van Ronzelen Danielsen, who was 18-19 years his junior (also second wife)

ψ Had five siblings: four from Berndt’s first marriage (all males) and one older brother (also named Berndt)

ψ Felt hostility towards her father and regarded him as religious hypocrite but greatly favored her mother

ψ Felt deprived of affection because of her father’s preference of her older brother, Berndt

ψ She was the acting housekeeper when her mother is not around which included keeping her brothers’ things organized.

ψ At age nine, she developed a crush towards her brother but was turned down leading to her first bout with depression

Early adulthoodψ At 13, she wanted to become

a physician (as well as the rest of her siblings but she was the only one who succeeded) much to his father’s opposition and society

ψ In 1904, her parents divorced leaving Karen, 19 and Berndt, 23

ψ In 1906, she entered University of Freiburg where she met Oscar Horney, political science student

ψ In 1909, they married and stayed in Berlin

ψ She became one of the boys because she saw that being girly would only lead to ridicule

ψ Earned an MD in 1911 in University of Berlin (after Freiburg and Gottingen)

ψ Parents were divorced and died a year after the other

ψ She gave birth to three daughters in five years (1910: Brigitte, 1913: Marianne, 1916: Renate)

ψ Oskar was just like her father, Berndt, as predicted by Freud – harsh, authoritative disciplinarian

ψ She had several love affairs

Early marriage years

ψ In 1923, Oskar developed meningitis and lost his job and forced to live in Berlin

ψ In the same year, Horney's brother died at age forty of pulmonary infection

ψ In 1926, they separated but did not officially divorce until 1938

Down the hills we go

ψ In 1913, she began an analysis with Karl Abraham

ψ In 1917, she wrote her first paper on psychoanalysis, “The Technique of Psychoanalytic Therapy”

ψ In 1919, she began to take in patients at Berlin Psychoanalytic Clinic and Institute until 1932

ψ In 1932, she became associate director of Chicago Pychoanalytic Institute

ψ In 1950, she published her most important work, Neurosis and Human Growth

ψ In 1952, she established Karen Horney Clinic

Karen Horney’s Rolling in the Deep

ψ Freud’s ‘penis envy’ and ‘Oedipus complex’ concepts, instinct-driven people and Freud’s male chauvinism were the main reasons of Horney’s drifting away

Horney vs Freud

The Neurotic Personality of our Time (1937)New Ways in Psychoanalysis (1939)Self-Analysis (1942)Our Inner Conflicts (1945)Are You Considering Psychoanalysis? (1946)Neurosis and Human Growth (1950)The Collected Works of Karen Horney (1950)The Adolescent Diaries of Karen Horney (1980)The Unknown Karen Horney: Essays on

Gender, Culture, and Psychoanalysis (2000)

Books by Karen Horney

Feist, Jess and Feist, Gregory. Theories of Personality. 7th ed. McGraw-Hill. International Edition 2010.

Boeree, Dr. C. George. Karen Horney. nd. np. Web. 29 Dec 2012. http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/horney.html.

Karen Horney. nd. goodtherapy.org. Web. 30 Dec 2012. http://www.goodtherapy.org/famous-psychologists/karen-horney.html.

Langenderfer, Gretchen. Karen Horney. May 2009. np. Web. 29 Dec 2012. http://www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/horney.htm.

Odds, Madness and Triumph: The Life of Karen Horney. nd. np. Web. 2 Jan 2013. http://www2.webster.edu/~woolflm/horney2.html.

References:

Mariah Sandrine M. DatingYzea Ordas