Horney

Personally one of my favorites is Karen Horney, who viewed psychology from a feminist perspective. In Blankenese, Germany, on September 16, 1885 Karen Horney was born. She attended medical school, received her medical degree in 1911, and began studying psychoanalysis. Horney later moved to the United States in the 1930s and wrote two works that were both influential and controversial, The Neurotic Personality of Our Time and New Ways in Psychoanalysis, which strayed gradually from Sigmund Freud's work. She died in New York City on December 4, 1952. Although she was committed to many elements of Freudian theory, Horney disagreed with Freud's view of female psychology. She denied what she viewed as male bias in psychoanalytic thought, arguing that the foundation of female mental disorder might lie in the male-dominated cultural context surrounding the development of Freudian theory. She presented the concept of womb envy, proposing that male envy of pregnancy, nursing, and motherhood, women's primary role in creating and sustaining life, led men to claim dominance in other areas of life. Horney continues to be influential among psychiatric professionals and therapists, as well as scholars of gender and feminism, over the decades.

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        Horney identified ten neurotic needs that characterize neurotics in their attempts to combat anxiety.

1. Neurotic need for affection and approval 
2. Neurotic need for a powerful partner 
3. Neurotic need to restrict one’s life within narrow boundaries 
4. Neurotic need for power 
5. Neurotic need to exploit others
6.  Neurotic need for social recognition or prestige 
7. Neurotic need for personal admiration 
8. Neurotic need for ambition and personal achievement
9. Neurotic need for self-sufficiency 
10. Neurotic need for perfection and unassailable 

These needs are boiled down to three neurotic trends, including; 

1. Moving toward people (needs 1 & 2) 
2. Moving against people (needs 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7)
3.  Moving away from people (needs 8, 9, & 10)