Karen Horney 1885 1952 Neurotic Needs Affection and

Karen Horney 1885 - 1952

Neurotic Needs • Affection and approval • Partner to take over one’s life • Restrict one’s life within narrow boundaries • Power, control over others, and façade of omnipotence • Exploit others and get the better of them • • Social recognition or prestige Personal admiration Personal achievement Self-sufficiency and independence • Perfection and unassailability

Neurotic Needs and Personality Disorders • Affection and approval • Partner to take over one’s life • Restrict one’s life within narrow boundaries • Power, control over others, and façade of omnipotence • Exploit others and get the better of them • • Dependent, Histrionic, Borderline, Narcissistic Dependent, Borderline • Dependent, Avoidant, Paranoid • Antisocial, Narcissistic, Borderline, Paranoid, Histrionic, Obsessive Compulsive Antisocial, Narcissistic, Borderline •

Neurotic Needs and Personality Disorders • • Social recognition or prestige Personal admiration Personal achievement Self-sufficiency and independence • Perfection and unassailability • • Narcissistic, Histrionic Antisocial, Narcissistic Avoidant, Paranoid, Schizotypal • Narcissistic, Borderline, Avoidant

Theory • Have an innate drive for positive personal growth (self realization) – Pathological behavior results when this is blocked • Disturbed interpersonal relationships are at the core of all healthy and unhealthy (neurotic) personality functioning

Theory • Neurotics show patterns of extreme and inflexible approaches to handling interpersonal relationships – “…the center of psychic disturbances are unconscious strivings developed in order to cope with life despite fears, helplessness, and isolation. I have called them “neurotic trends” [neurotic needs].

Theory • • • Safety and satisfaction are the two primary needs Under ideal conditions, a child will feel loved, protected, and safe Under less than ideal conditions, a child feels vulnerable, helpless and abandoned producing basic anxiety – “the feeling a child has of being isolated and helpless in a potentially hostile world” – Is the result of parental indifference • Called this “the basic evil” • As much perception as intention

Theory • Parental indifference and the conflict it produces results in defensive ways of perceiving oneself. – Despised real self (fallible true self) • Repressed hostility turns toward self and further proves ones unworthiness and sense of being unlovable – Self contemot • Six major ways of manifestation:

Theory • Relentless demands on self – • Merciless self-accusation – • Don’t believe we deserve to enjoy things Self-torment – • Ridicule that prevents striving for improvement or achievement Self-frustration – • Constantly berate self Self-contempt – • “Tyranny of the should” Inflict harm and suffering on self Self-destructive actions and impulses – Overeating, addictions, reckless behavior

Theory • • Then create the image of the idealized or ideal self to defensively restructure the despised real self The drive toward actualizing the ideal self is called the neurotic search for glory. • Manifests as: – Need for perfection » Attempt to mold the whole personality into the idealized self » “Tyranny of the should”

Theory • Manifests itself (cont) – Neurotic ambition » Compulsive drive toward superiority » Although desire to excel at everything, often channeled into area most likely to succeed – Drive toward a vindictive triumph » “its chief aim is to put others to shame or defeat them through one’s very success; or to attain the power…to inflict suffering on them – mostly of a humiliating kind” » Most destructive of the three

Theory • Later added : – Real self • True core of persons being • Contains all potential of growth and health (possible self) • Damaged by parental indifference • Alienation from this and adoption of the idealized self is called the core neurotic conflict

Theory • Basic anxiety around parental indifference makes the child angry and resentful toward parents • Called this basic hostility • Creates conflict and anxiety for child – Child needs parents and wants to approach them – On the other hand hates them and wants to punish them • This is the basis of neurosis

Theory • A child deals with this by adopting one of three relationship strategies: – Accentuate dependency and move toward the parents – Accentuate hostility and move against the parents – Give up on the relationship and move away from the parents • Calls these the basic conflict

Theory • Moving Toward People: “If you love me, you will not hurt me” – Compliant Personality • Intense needs for affection and approval • Need for a partner • Need to restrict ones life within narrow boundaries • Goal is to achieve harmony with others and avoid friction

Theory – Compliant Personality • May mask underlying feelings of need to compete, excel, and dominate, or feelings of rage, anger and hostility • Called this the self-effacing solution – The ideal self is the despised self – Qualities of suffering, helplessness and martyrdom

Theory • Moving against people: “ If I have power, no one can hurt me” – Aggressive Personality • • • Need for control and power as protection against feelings of helplessness Need to excel by exploiting others Success and prestige are measures of their self worth Driven by insecurity, anxiety, and hostility Called this the expansive solution – Ultimate attempt to actualize the ideal self

Theory • Moving away from people: “If I withdraw, nothing can hurt me” – Detached personality • Detached from human affairs • Resigned to an emotionally flat life • Protection from being hurt by others • Intense needs of self sufficiency and perfection

Theory – Detached personality • Narrow limits of life so that will not have to be dependent on others • Remove selves from “inner battlefield” of their own conflicts • Called this the solution of resignation

Theory • Healthy people move between these and use what is appropriate when needed • Neurotics mainly emphasize one of the Neurotic solutions – Two less emphasized remain at work in the unconscious

Auxiliary Conflict Solutions • Creation of Blind Spots – Type of denial – Refusal to see the discrepancy between their behaviors and the idealized self

Auxiliary Conflict Solutions • Compartmentalization – Life compartmentalized with different rules for each – What happens in one has not effect or link to another – Situational ethics • Rationalization – Using logical, plausible, but inaccurate excuses to justify one’s perceived weaknesses, failures, or inconsistencies.

Auxiliary Conflict Solutions • Excessive self control – Avoidance of emotions (good or bad) • Arbitrary rightness – Because of difficulty in taking action, will appear to arbitrarily make decisions (showing one is arbitrarily right or in charge) (dogmatism)

Auxiliary Conflict Solutions • Elusiveness – Postpones making any decisions, voice any opinions, etc. – If I am not committed to anything, I can’t be wrong; If I am not wrong I can’t be criticized • Cynicism – Doesn’t believe in anything – By not believing in anything, I am immune to the disappointment of being committed to something shown to be false.