A Mind Of Her Own The Life Of Karen Horney

Karen Horney (1885-1952) is one of the great figures in psychoanalysis, an independent thinker who dared to take issue with Freud's views on women. One of the first female medical students in Germany, and one of the first doctors in Berlin to undergo psychoanalytic training, she emigrated to the United States in 1932 and became a leading figure in American psychoanalysis. She wrote several important books, including Neurosis and Human Growth and Our Inner Conflicts. Horney was a brilliant psychologist of women, whose work anticipated current interest in the narcissistic personality. "An excellent book, sophisticated in its judgments, and with a candor that does justice to [Quinn's] courageous subject." — Phyllis Grosskurth, The New York Review of Books "A richly contexted, thoroughly informed, and admirably forthright account of Horney's development and contribution." — Justin Kaplan "Excellent, sympathetic but not adulatory, clear about the theories and factions... rich in anecdotes." — Rosemary Dinnage, The New York Times Book Review "The whole book is wonderfully balanced. A terrific achievement." — Anton O. Kris, Boston Psychoanalytic Institute

First published in 1994. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Karen Horney is regarded by many as one of the most important psychoanalytic thinkers of the 20th century. This book argues that Horney's inner struggles, in particular her compulsive need for men, induced her to embark on a search for self-understanding.

The Healing Virtues explores the intersection of psychotherapy and virtue ethics - with an emphasis on the patient's role within a healing process. It considers how the common ground between the therapeutic process and the cultivation of virtues can inform the efforts of both therapist and patient. The ethics of psychotherapy revolve partly around what therapists should or should not do as well as the sort of person that therapists should be: e.g., empathic, prudent, compassionate, respectful, and trustworthy. Contemporary practitioners have argued for therapist virtues that are relevant to assisting the patient's efforts in a healing process. But the ethics of a therapeutic dialogue can also revolve around the sort of person the patient should be. Within this book, Duff R. Waring argues that there is a case for patient virtues that are relevant to dealing with the problems in living that arise in psychotherapy, e.g., honesty, courage, humility, perseverance. The central idea is that treatment may need to build virtues while it ameliorates problems. Hence, the patient's work in psychotherapy can both challenge character strengths and result in their further development. The book is unique in bringing the topic of virtue ethics to the psychotherapeutic encounter, and will be of interest to psychotherapists, philosophers, and psychiatrists.

Who is Karen Horney and why are her psychoanalytic ideas so important in today's world of once-per-week dynamic psychotherapy? Horney was one of the first analysts to challenge basic Freudian assertions such as the psychoanalytic account of female development. She had a revolutionary focus on present-oriented treatment, and a powerfully-optimistic attitude toward patient growth and change. This book: introduces, defines, and illustrates the major tenets of Horney's theory and technique discusses Horney's means of fostering an optimistic attitude that strengthens therapy between therapist and the patient demonstrates the special suitablity and the effectiveness of Horney's ideas as they are applied to character disorder and to today's most frequent form of treatment: once-per-week session psychotherapy presents criticisms of Horney's ideas Dr. Irving Solomon prepares practitioners to conduct Horneyan therapy and successfully treat character disorder, the most common dysfunction of our time. Dr. Solomon presents, in a concise and organized fashion, Karen Horney's ideas regarding character psychopathology, accompanied by many illustrative vignettes for practical application. Today's clinician will find that Horney's orientation provides a means of conducting brief treatment that is also meaningfully deep. This book will be of interest to mental health professionals, as well as to lay individuals who seek knowledge of the self, since it realistically, vividly, and authoritatively touches on a multitude of common, easily recognized character trends that destructively complicate our well-being.

Presents a biography of one of the most important figures in the history of psychoanalysis who founded America's first psychoanalytic institute and whose controversial theories on neurosis had an enduring influence on the field of psychology.

There was a moment in the 1970s when sex was what mattered most to feminists. White middle-class women viewed sex as central to both their oppression and their liberation. Young women started to speak and write about the clitoris, orgasm, and masturbation, and publishers and the news media jumped at the opportunity to disseminate their views. In Desiring Revolution, Gerhard asks why issues of sex and female pleasure came to matter so much to these "second-wave feminists." In answering this question Gerhard reveals the diverse views of sexuality within feminism and shows how the radical ideas put forward by this generation of American women was a response to attempts to define and contain female sexuality going back to the beginning of the century. Gerhard begins by showing how the "marriage experts" of the first half of the twentieth century led people to believe that female sexuality was bound up in bearing children. Ideas about normal, white, female heterosexuality began to change, however, in the 1950s and 1960s with the widely reported, and somewhat shocking, studies of Kinsey and Masters and Johnson, whose research spoke frankly about female sexual anatomy, practices, and pleasures. Gerhard then focuses on the sexual revolution between 1968 and 1975. Examining the work of Betty Friedan, Germaine Greer, Erica Jong, and Kate Millet, among many others, she reveals how little the diverse representatives of this movement shared other than the desire that women gain control of their own sexual destinies. Finally, Gerhard examines the divisions that opened up between anti-pornography (or "anti-sex") feminists and anti-censorship (or "pro-sex") radicals. At once erudite and refreshingly accessible, Desiring Revolution provides the first full account of the unfolding of the feminist sexual revolution.

The ideas of Max Wertheimer (1880-1943), a founder of Gestalt theory, are discussed in almost all general books on the history of psychology, and in most introductory textbooks on psychology. This intellectual biography of Wertheimer is the first book-length treatment of a scholar whose ideas are recognized as of central importance to fields as varied as social psychology, cognitive neuroscience, problem solving, art, and visual neuroscience. King and Wertheimer trace the origins of Gestalt thought, demonstrating its continuing importance in fifteen chapters and several supplements to these chapters. They begin by reviewing Wertheimer's ancestry, family, and childhood in central Europe, and his formal education. They elaborate on his activities during the period in which he developed the ideas that were later to become central to Gestalt psychology, documenting the formal emergence of this school of thought and tracing its development during World War I. The maturation of the Gestalt school at the University of Berlin during 1922-29 is discussed in detail. Wertheimer's everyday life in America during his last decade is well documented, based in part on his son's recollections. The early reception of Gestalt theory in the United States is examined, with extensive references to articles in professional journals and periodicals. Wertheimer's relationships and interaction with three prominent psychologists of the time, Edwin Boring, Clark Hull, and Alexander Luria, are discussed, based on previosly unpublished correspondence. The final chapters discuss Wertheimer's essays on democracy, freedom, ethics, and truth, detail personal challenges Wertheimer faced during his last years. His major work, published after his death, is Productive Thinking. Its reception is examined, and a concluding chapter considers recent responses to Max Wertheimer and Gestalt theory. This intellectual biography will be of interest to psychologists and readers interested in science, modern European history, and the Holocaust. D. Brett King is senior instructor of psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Colorado at Boulder. Michael Wertheimer is Professor Emeritus of Psychology, University of Colorado at Boulder.