Karen Horney: Feminine Psychology

Karen Horney brought about Feminine Psychology. She disagreed with Freud’s view of women. She countered Freud's concept of penis envy with what she called Womb Envy, or man's envy of woman's ability to bear children. She argued that men compensate for this inability by striving for achievement and success in other realms.

Horney was also known for her study of neurotic personality. She defined neurosis as a maladaptive and counterproductive way of dealing with relationships. These people are unhappy and desperately seek out relationships in order to feel good abut themselves. Their way of securing these relationships include projections of their own insecurity and neediness which eventually drives others away.

Horney also developed three Neurotic Coping Strategies. Her first neurotic coping strategy is Moving Towards people. These people are compliantly neurotic. Some children who feel a great deal of anxiety and helplessness move toward people in order to seek help and acceptance. They are striving to feel worthy and can believe the only way to gain this is through the acceptance of others. These people have an intense need to be liked, involved, important, and appreciated. So much so, that they will often fall in love quickly or feel an artificial but very strong attachment to people they may not know well. Their attempts to make that person love them creates a clinginess and neediness that much more often than not results in the other person leaving the relationship. Their neurotic solution is “If everyone likes me, then no one will want to hurt me.” Or one could be Moving Against people. These people are power hungry and crave social recognition and prestige. Another way to deal with insecurities and anxiety is to try to force your power onto others in hopes of feeling good about yourself. Those with this personality style come across as bossy, demanding, selfish, and even cruel. Horney argued that these people project their own hostilities (which she called externalization) onto others and therefore use this as a justification to 'get them before they get me. Once again, relationships appear doomed from the beginning. Their neurotic solution is, “If I have power over everyone, than no one can hurt me.” And finally one could be Moving Away from people. This type of people likes independence and Isolation. The final possible consequence of a neurotic household is a personality style filled with asocial behavior and almost an indifference to others. If they don't get involved with others, they can't be hurt by them. While it protects them from emotional pain of relationships, it also keeps away all positive aspects of relationships. It leaves them feeling alone and empty. Their neurotic solution is, “If I don’t let anyone close to me than no one can hurt me."