Karen Horney

Karen Horney was a German-American psychoanalyst who challenged Freudian theories, explained neurosis through culture and relationships, and developed feminine psychology.

Psychoanalysis: A theory and therapeutic practice that investigates unconscious mental processes and their influence on behavior. Horney trained in this tradition before rejecting parts of Freud’s account.
Moving toward people: A neurotic strategy of seeking safety through compliance, affection, and dependence on others. It is one of Horney’s three ways of responding to basic anxiety.
Sigmund Freud: An Austrian neurologist who founded psychoanalysis and formulated influential theories of the unconscious and psychosexual development. Horney challenged Freud’s explanations of female psychology and the primacy he gave to instinct.
Karl Abraham: A German psychoanalyst and early collaborator of Freud who trained Horney in Berlin. Horney studied with Abraham during her formation as a psychoanalyst.
Self-analysis: The practice of examining one’s own motives, conflicts, and behavior through psychoanalytic ideas. Horney presented self-examination as a practical route to recognizing neurotic patterns.
Neurosis: A pattern of persistent psychological distress and maladaptive behavior without loss of reality testing. Horney made neurotic conflict the central problem her cultural theory sought to explain.
Moving against people: A neurotic strategy of seeking safety through dominance, competition, and control of others. Horney described aggression as a distinct response to insecurity, not merely an individual temperament.
Penis envy: In Freudian theory, a girl’s supposed unconscious envy of the male genital organ during psychosexual development. Horney rejected it as a universal explanation and emphasized women’s social subordination.
Erich Fromm: A German-American social psychologist and psychoanalyst who connected character formation with social and economic structures. Horney and Fromm shared an interest in how culture shapes personality and belonged to overlapping New York circles.
Our Inner Conflicts: A 1945 book by Horney that explains neurotic conflict through incompatible interpersonal orientations. It gives a sustained account of the conflicts underlying her three interpersonal strategies.

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