New Ways in Psychoanalysis

NEW WAYS IN PSYCHOANALYSIS by KAREN HORNEY. Contents include: INTRODUCTION 7 I. FUNDAMENTALS OF PSYCHOANALYSIS 17 II. SOME GENERAL PREMISES OF FREUD S THINKING 37 III. THE LIBIDO THEORY 47 IV. THE OEDIPUS COMPLEX 79 V. THE CONCEPT OF NARCISSISM 88 VI. FEMININE PSYCHOLOGY 1O1 VII. THE DEATH INSTINCT 12O VIII. THE EMPHASIS ON CHILDHOOD Igg IX. THE CONCEPT OF TRANSFERENCE 154 X. CULTURE AND NEUROSES l68 XI. THE EGO AND THE ID 183 XII. ANXIETY 193 XIII. THE CONCEPT OF THE SUPER-EGO 2OJ XIV. NEUROTIC GUILT FEELINGS 232 XV. MASOCHISTIC PHENOMENA 246 XVI. PSYCHOANALYTIC THERAPY 2 6 INDEX 3O7. INTRODUCTION: MY desire to make a critical re-evaluation of psycho analytical theories had its origin in a dissatisfaction with therapeutic results. I found that almost every patient offered problems for which our accepted psychoanalyt ical knowledge offered no means of solution, and which therefore remained unsolved. As most analysts probably do, at first I attributed the resulting uncertainty to my own lack of experience, lack of understanding or blind spots. I remember pester ing more experienced colleagues with questions such as what Freud or they understood by ego, why sadistic impulses were interrelated with anal libido 1 and why so many different trends were regarded as an expression of latent homosexuality without, however, obtaining answers that seemed satisfactory. I had my first active doubts as to the validity of psy choanalytical theories when I read Freuds concept of feminine psychology, doubts which were then strength ened by his postulate of the death instinct. But it was several years before I started to think through psycho analytical theories in a critical way. As will be seen throughout the book, the system of theories which Freud has gradually developed is so con sistent that when one is once entrenched in them it is difficult to make observations unbiased by his way of thinking. It is only through recognizing the debatable premises on which this system is built that one acquires a clearer vision as to the sources of error contained in the individual theories. In all sincerity I may say that I regard myself qualified to make the criticisms con tained in this book, because I consistently applied Freuds theories for a period of over fifteen years. The resistance which many psychiatrists as well as laymen feel toward orthodox psychoanalysis is due not only to emotional sources, as is assumed, but also to the debatable character of many theories. The complete refutation of psychoanalysis which these critics often resort to is regrettable because it leads to discarding the valid with the dubitable and thereby prevents a recognition of what psychoanalysis essentially has to offer. I found that the more I took a critical stand to ward a series of psychoanalytical theories, the more I realized the constructive value of Freuds fundamental findings and the more paths opened up for the under standing of psychological problems. Thus the purpose of this book is not to show what is wrong with psychoanalysis, but, through eliminating the debatable elements, to enable psychoanalysis to de velop to the height of its potentialities. As a result of both theoretical considerations and practical experi ence, I believe that the range of problems which can be understood is enlarged considerably if we cut loose from certain historically determined theoretical prem ises and discard the theories arising on that basis. My conviction, expressed in a nutshell, is that psycho analysis should outgrow the limitations set by its being an instinctivistic and a genetic psychology. As to the latter, Freud tends to regard later peculiarities as almost direct repetitions of infantile drives or reactions hence he expects later disturbances to vanish if the under lying infantile experiences are elucidated...