New Ways in Psychoanalysis
- Author:
Karen Horney. Kegan Paul. International Lib-
rary of Psychoanalysis. 12s. 6d.
The author has been brought up in the Freud- ian school, but has certainly not succumbed to the paralysing influence of orthodoxy as some disciples have done, especially since the earlier defections of such pioneers as Jung, Adler and Steckel. In her heretical conclusions she is probably nearest to Steckel, but she is by no means a disciple of his. In this book she takes all the main tenets of the Freudian doctrine except the fundamental ones of conflict and repression, and subjects them to stringent criticism.
Briefly, while Freud holds that mental illness is determined almost exclusively by erotic stresses in very early childhood, Dr Horney lays stress on the character drives in the present situation. Freud holds that if these infantile stresses are laid bare, the emotional ” working out ” involved in the unmasking of the repressed material liberates the patient so that he can adjust to present circumstances without more ado, and if he fails in this, the reason is that all the repressions have not been resolved. Hence the very prolonged analysis of Freudian practice. In this book it is held, on the contrary, that what is required is that the patient must be shown how his character drives are shaping his behav- iour and producing his neurotic symptoms, and that he must be taught to redirect his will so as to adapt to reality with better advantage. The author points out that the resistance of the patient depends on his essential feeling of insecurity and his unwillingness that the picture of himself as a perfect personality in order to protect himself from that very insecurity should be assailed.
There is no doubt that this is a highly interest- ing and stimulating book and that it does reflect the general attitude of many modern psycho- therapists, especially in this country, but it must not be thought that this is an easy simplification of the difficult Freudian doctrine which can be assimilated by the uninitiated, and it is very doubtful if anyone who is not well acquainted with analytic theory and practice will get much value from it.
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