Karen Horney essays

Karen Horney essays Karen Horney was born in Hamburg, Germany to Captain and Mrs. Berndt Wackels Danielson on September 16, 1885. Captain Danielson was a religious man with an authoritarian parenting style, he was referred to as the Bible thrower. Although her father brought her gifts from around the world and let her accompany him on three sea excursions, Karen felt that he favored her older brother Berndt. The lack of a connection with her father made Karen become extremely close with her mother, Clotilde aka Sonni. Clotilde was Captain Danielsons second wife, 19 years seperated the cosmopolitan wife When Karen was nine she changed her approach to life and became more bold and ambitious. At the same time, Karens crush on her beloved teenage brother led him to distance himself from her uncomfortable attentions. Berndts rejection made Karen depressed, the first of many bouts of depression throughout her life. In 1904 Clotilde divorced Karens father and left both Berndt and Karen in his care. In 1906, Karen Horney decided to attend medical school against her parents wishes. Contrary to societal norms, Horney attended the universities of Freiburg and Berlin. While in school Karen met Oscar Horney, a law student, whom she married in 1909. The first of the couples three daughters, Bridgette was born in 1910. The following year Clotilde died and Karen entered psychoanalysis to help her cope with the dramatic changes she had been through. In psychoanalysis Karen learned that Oscar was like her dad, an authoritarian who was harsh with the children. Yet Karen considered his methods acceptable and did not intervene, instead she believed that the atmosphere encouraged Horney began to follow Freudian analysis with Karl Abraham in 1915. By 1919, she was taking patients which led to a twelve year position at Berlin Psychoanalytic Clinic and Institute. Later sh...