Karen Horney
Karen Horney
Karen Horneywas a German psychoanalyst who practiced in the United States during her later career. Her theories questioned some traditional Freudian views. This was particularly true of her theories of sexuality and of the instinct orientation of psychoanalysis. She is credited with founding feminist psychology in response to Freud's theory of penis envy. She disagreed with Freud about inherent differences in the psychology of men and women, and she traced such differences to society and culture rather than biology. As...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPsychologist
Date of Birth16 September 1885
CountryUnited States of America
To experience conflicts knowingly, though it may be distressing, can be an invaluable asset. The more we face our own conflicts and seek out our own solutions, the more inner freedom and strength we will gain. Only when we are willing to bear the brunt can we approximate the ideal of being the captain of our ship. Spurious tranquillity rooted in inner dullness is anything but enviable. It is bound to make us weak and an easy prey to any kind of influence.
The searching for our selves is the most agonizing, isn't it? - and yet the most stimulating - and one simply cannot escape it.
The psychology of women hitherto actually represents a deposit of the desires and disappointments of men.
Why is it so unutterably beneficial, the thought that someone besides myself knows me?
Until I feel strong enough to pray sincerely and to act accordingly, I would rather not pray at all.
Thou shalt free thyself from convention, from everyday morality.
When one begins, as I did, to analyze men after a fairly long experience of analyzing women, one receives a most surprising impression of the intensity of this envy of pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood, as well as of breasts and of the act of suckling.
Is not the tremendous strength in men of the impulse to creative work in every field precisely due to their feeling of playing a relatively small part in the creation of living beings, which constantly impels them to an overcompensation in achievement?
It would not be going too far to assert that ... conflict confronts every woman who ventures upon a career of her own and who is ... unwilling to pay for her daring with the renunciation of her femininity.
The conception of what is normal varies not only with the culture but also within the same culture, in the course of time.
the idea of a finished human product not only appears presumptuous but even, in my opinion, lacks any strong appeal. Life is struggle and striving, development and growth - and analysis is one of the means that can help in this process. Certainly its positive accomplishments are important, but also the striving itself is of intrinsic value.
There is no such thing as a normal psychology that holds for all people.
[Neurotics are] torn by inner conflicts ... Every neurotic ... is at war with himself.
miracles occur in psychoanalysis as seldom as anywhere else.