Karen Horney MD, (1885-1952) a distinguished pioneer of psychoanalysis was a preeminent analyst and psychoanalytic writer. She devoted her life to teaching and practicing psychoanalysis.
Her innovative and bold ideas form a major part of the evolution of psychoanalysis. In her early writings she explored the role of gender and female psychology. Dr. Horney emphasized the role of interpersonal relationships, culture, and social environment on personality development and function. Her belief in an individual’s capacity to grow and change throughout life challenged the existing psychoanalytic view at the time. Derivatives of some of Karen Horney’s ideas can be found into many contemporary concepts and clinical practice.
Dr. Karen Horney was born in Germany where she received her medical, psychiatric, and psychoanalytic training in the early 1900’s. She was a founding member of the Berlin Psychoanalytic Society in 1911, the Berlin Poliklinik and the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute, the first psychoanalytic educational institute in the world in 1920.
Dr. Horney immigrated to the United States in 1932 at the invitation of Franz Alexander to join him in Chicago and to help him with the founding of Psychoanalytic Institute there. For two years she was Associate Director of the Psychoanalytic Institute, Chicago.
In 1934 Karen Horney moved to New York and began a very creative and productive period of her life. She was a Lecturer at the New School for Social Research, New York; a Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a frequent contributor to the scientific sessions of that organization. She was a member of the teaching staff of the New York Psychoanalytic Institute until 1941, when she and other psychoanalysts left the New York Psychoanalytic Institute, and established the Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis (AAP) and the American Institute for Psychoanalysis (AIP) as a teaching and training institute open to new ideas, in a spirit of scientific and academic democracy. Karen Horney was the Dean of AIP until her death in 1952. She was founding editor (1941-1952) of The American Journal of Psychoanalysis, that has been in continuous publication since its inception in 1941.
She was posthumously awarded the title Honorary President of the Karen Horney Foundation, established in New York to sponsor low-cost psychoanalytic service to the community. In 1955, it founded the Karen Horney Clinic.
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Karen Horney’s most notable work
Dr. Karen Horney was a prolific writer in addition to her active work as teacher, analyst, dean and editor. Some of Dr. Karen Horney’s most notable works include:
- Horney, K. (1937). Neurotic personality of our time. New York: W.W. Norton.
- Horney, K. (1939). New ways in psychoanalysis. New York: W.W. Norton.
- Horney, K. (1942). Self-analysis. New York: W.W. Norton.
- Horney, K. (1945). Our inner conflicts. New York: W.W. Norton.
- Horney, K. (1950). Neurosis and human growth: The struggle toward self-realization.
New York: W.W. Norton. - Horney, K. (Ed.) (1962). Are you considering psychoanalysis. New York: W.W. Norton.
- Horney, K. (1967) Feminine psychology. H. Kelman (Ed.), New York: W.W. Norton.
- Horney, K. (1980). Adolescent diaries. M. Horney Eckardt & R. Horney (Eds.), New
York: Basic Books. - Horney, K. (1987). Final Lectures. D.H. Ingram (Ed.), New York: W.W. Norton.