Minerva Marin, March 2, 2011, PD 275

     Theories of the Neurotic Needs that Karen Horney came up with are today considered one of the best theories that ever existed. Karen Horney looked at neurosis in different perspectives in which she said that it was much more continuous with normal life than other theorists believed. To add more to this she also saw neurosis as an attempt to make life bearable as an interpersonal controlling and coping technique. Karen thought that the fact of thinking that neurosis in adults is caused by abuse or neglect in one’s childhood was a tremendous mistake. She rejected opinions of others who believed neurosis was, like more severe mental conditions, a negative malfunction of the mind in response to external stimuli, such as bereavement, divorce or negative experiences during childhood and adolescence. She gave it a name of ‘parental indifference’ to the culprit behind neurosis. Horney said that the key thing one must do to understand this concept of neurosis is the child’s perception and not the parent’s intentions. The reason for this is that a child can feel that he/she doesn’t have or get warmth and affection if a parent is occupied or neurotic themselves, laughs and makes fun of children and doesn’t fulfill promises. Horney developed and named ten particular neurotic needs and to her perspective these are based on things that all humans need and maybe sometimes these are miscarried due to difficulties that have occurred within their lives on past occasions. Furthermore when she began more indebt investigations of these Neurotic Needs she came up with a conclusion that these can be joined and broaden into three topics rather than ten of them. The first one is Compliance, the second is Aggression and the third one is detachment. The Compliance category is seen as a process of "moving towards people", or self-effacement. Under Horney's theory children facing difficulties with parents often use this strategy. Fear of helplessness and abandonment occurs—phenomena Horney refers to as "basic anxiety". Those within the compliance category tend to exhibit a need for affection and approval on the part of their peers. They may also seek out a partner, somebody to confide in, fostering the belief that, in turn, all of life's problems would be solved by the new cohort. A lack of demands and a desire for inconspicuousness both occur in these individuals. The second category is Aggression category, also called the "moving against people", or the "expansive" solution. Neurotic children or adults within this category often exhibit anger or basic hostility to those around them. There is a need for power, a need for control and exploitation. Manipulative qualities aside, under Horney's assertions the aggressive individual may also wish for social recognition, not necessarily in terms of limelight, but in terms of simply being known by peers alike. In addition, the individual has needs for a degree of personal admiration by those within this person's social circle and, lastly, for raw personal achievement. These characteristics comprise the "aggressive" neurotic type. Aggressive types also tend to keep people away from them. On the other hand, they only care about their wants and needs. They would do whatever they can to be happy and wouldn't desist from hurting anyone. And last but not least the other one is detachment needs and this category is also called the "moving-away-from" or "resigning" solution or a detached personality. Horney recognized that children might simply try to become self sufficient. All in all I strongly think that these neurotic needs really are very up to life. The neurotic needs can help people really a lot in trying to know their personalities.