CORE--BASIC ANXIETY, develops from a parental lack of care and love that is universal.

Everyone develops strategies to cope with basic anxiety, these strategies are called

Neurotic needs (nn).

DEVELOPMENT, there are 2 possible developmental courses.

1. Insufficient emotional nourishment, which produces “normal neuroses”, or

2. Psychological abuse, which produces “pathological neuroses”.

There are 10 neurotic needs, listed below. If these 10 needs are relatively equal in force, then the person is “normally” neurotic. If certain groups of these needs are stronger than others, then the person experiences one of 3 neurotic neuroses called types.

PERIPHERY

A. THE COMPLIANT TYPE (has dominant needs associated with MOVING TOWARD PEOPLE).

1. NN for affection and approval

2. NN for a partner who will take over one’s life

B. THE AGGRESSIVE TYPE (has dominant needs associated with MOVING AGAINST PEOPLE).

3. NN for power

4. NN to exploit others

5. NN for prestige

6. NN for personal admiration

7. NN for personal achievement

C. THE DETACHED TYPE (has dominant needs associated with MOVING AWAY FROM OTHERS).

8. NN to restrict one’s life with narrow borders

9. NN for self-sufficiency and independence

10. NN for perfection and unassailability.

When 1 type dominates, the other two are unconscious and still have an influence on personality.

PATHOLOGICAL NEUROSES always involves a conflict between

A. The REAL SELF--”Who I am”, and

B. The IDEAL SELF--”Who I would like to be”

There is also the SELF IMAGE”, which may or may not be the same as the real self or the ideal self.

In Pathological Neurosis a person represses the real self (has an unconscious hatred for the real self), and believes that s/he is the ideal self. This is known as the “SEARCH FOR GLORY”.

There is a vicious cycle of Pathological Neurosis where A) the contempt for the real self produces B) a greater need for an idealized self image, which produces C) higher unattainable and unrealistic standards (“shoulds”) that can never be achieved. This produces D) failure, which is anything less than perfection. Failure produces increases anxiety and increased A) contempt for the real self.

Characteristics of Pathological Neurosis

1. Need for Perfection

2. Misery

3. Neurotic Pride

4. Neurotic Claims

5. Tyranny of the “Shoulds”

6. Various Protective Strategies

a. Blind spots

b. Compartmentalization

c. Rationalization

d. Excessive self-control

e. Arbitrary rightness

f. Elusiveness, and

g. Cynicism

Psychotherapy has two aims:

1. Help the patient see that the neurotic “solution” is delf-defeating.

2. Explore repressed unconscious forces.

Horney originally believed in Freud’s notion of the Oedipus Complex, then rejected it--along with notions of penis envy and female inferiority.

“IT IS A LONG AND HARD LESSON FOR ANYONE TO LEARN, THAT OTHERS CAN NEITHER HURT NOR ESTABLISH SELF-ESTEEM” K. HORNEY