Karen Horney Theory of Neurosis

1786 Words8 Pages
Karen Horeny's Theory of Neurosis Karen Horney compiled a comprehensive theory of neurosis. She had an immense interest in this subject matter and viewed neurosis in a different way to other psychoanalysts of her era. According to Horney basic anxiety is the foundation of neurosis and can be defined as an “insidiously increasing, all-pervading feeling of being lonely and helpless in a hostile world” (Horney, 1937, p. 89) (Schultz, D. & Schultz, S. E. 2004). Horney believed that even though we express the feeling of anxiety differently, it is a similar feeling for all of us. She believed that in childhood we try protect ourselves against basic anxiety in four ways: securing affection and love, being submissive, attaining power and withdrawing. For the purposes of this essay we will apply Karen Horney's theory of neurosis to account for the behaviour of Claireece “Precious” Jones, a movie character from the movie Precious. Horney believed that basic anxiety was the end result of basic hostility and this basic hostility is projected to parents whose children did not have their needs for love and affection satisfied during childhood. In order to establish if these needs where met, it is imperative that a child's perception of events is taken into concern as opposed to the parents intentions (Karen Horney, n.d ). 16-year-old Precious was not given love and affection by her parents. Instead, she faced relentless child abuse, rape, and domestic violence, and incest, physical and mental abuse from both her mother and father. According to Horney when one lives in a world that is out to abuse, cheat attack, humiliate or betray you, you feel “small, insignificant, helpless, deserted and endangered” (1937, p. 92). She believed that these feeling are a cause of basic anxiety and children try to protect themselves against these feelings in four ways: Securing affection and
Open Document