Karen Horney and Psychotherapy in the 21st Century

Many ideas currently circulating in the psychological and psychoanalytic communities have correspondence with the theories put forth by Karen Horney during the first half of the twentieth century. This paper provides an overview of Horney’s theoretical departures from Freud and an introduction to her then controversial views of motivation and relationship. Compatibility between Horney’s ideas and attachment theory, self-psychology, intersubjectivity, and the person in the environment is discussed. Two clinical cases are presented, illustrating Horney’s theory and approach. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2004 National Meeting of the Committee on Psychoanalysis of the Federation of Societies for Clinical Social Work in New York.