Definition
Karen Horney (1937) defined neurosis as a “psychic disturbance brought about by fears and defenses against these fears, and by attempts to find compromise solutions for conflicting tendencies” (p. 26).Neurotic conflicts stem from childhood experiences where parental figures did not provide a loving, safe, and consistent environment. As a result, the child internalizes core feelings and beliefs of unworthiness, shame, and defectiveness. In an attempt to distance from these feelings, the individual develops compromise solutions to create a homeostatic self-regulating system to keep painful feelings at bay.
Introduction
Karen Horney (1885–1952) was one of the most original psychoanalytic thinkers to emerge from the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute, a renowned...
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References
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Danielian, J., Gianotti, P. (2016). Neurosis and Neurotic Conflict. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1400-1
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