Exploring Neurosis and Human Growth: A Journey Towards Self-Realization

Steven B.: The Neverending Story (1984) was one of my favorites as a kid. In the movie, Bastian borrows a mysterious book and reads it in the school's attic in the middle of a storm. At some point he realizes the book's characters are talking to him.
The quarantine of 2020 coupled with some personal issues triggered a three-year journey of self-discovery that culminated with this book. I stumbled upon Horney's book by chance, and I felt like Bastian reading book that's talking to me.
This book not only confirms what I've been discovering about myself, it also describes many behaviors I've had my entire life. Sometimes the only difference is the words I choose to describe them.
Other reviewers regret not finding this book earlier. I don't. I think those years of introspection were necessary for me to truly appreciate Horney's work.
Every 10 pages I need to take a break to look away and digest what I just read. It's a slow burn but it very well may be one of the most meaningful books in my life. Karen Horney never met me, I wasn't even born yet, but she knew me better than my own mother.

UPDATE: I just finished Chapter 7, whose focus is the expansive type of neurotic. The...

United States on Jun 18, 2022

Toni: Es ist sehr interessant, es zu lesen. Leider ist der Preis etwas hoch.

Germany on May 11, 2021

Jesse McCarthy: Dr. Karen Horney once wrote the following about genuine introspection: “you must not study only the highlights. You must take every opportunity to become familiar with this stranger or acquaintance that is yourself. This, by the way, is not a figurative way of speaking, for most people know very little about themselves, and only gradually learn to what extent they have lived in ignorance. If you want to know New York you do not merely look at it from the Empire State Building. You go to the lower East Side; you stroll through Central Park; you take a boat around Manhattan; you ride on a Fifth Avenue bus; and a great deal more. Opportunities to become familiar with yourself will offer themselves, and you will see them, provided you really want to know this queer fellow who lives your life. You will then be astonished to see that here you are irritated for no apparent reason, there you cannot make up your mind, here you were offensive without meaning to be, here you mysteriously lost your appetite, there you had an eating spell, here you could not bring yourself to answer a letter, there you were suddenly afraid of noises around you when alone, here you had a nightmare, there you...

United States on Dec 18, 2019

NeuroticGuy: Incredible book, exactly what I needed after being diagnosed with social neurosis. Explains the nature of my own foundations. Glad I bought this.

Italy on Mar 24, 2019

KatK: A must read for any serious psychology student!

This is a book that lays out Karen Horney's theory of neurosis. It is not a self-help book per se, but if you want to understand your inner subconscious processes - this is the best theory out there (in my opinion). It is complementary to ideas that you will find in CBT and Recovery literature.

I challenge anyone out there to read a self-help book out there today that does not take at least one idea from this book.

I have a Master's degree in psychology and have primarily trained in and use cognitive therapy. However, if you study cognitive therapy, Karen Horney will barely be a footnote. This is absolutely baffling to me after reading Neurosis and Human Growth. Horney makes reference to nearly every cognitive therapy concept out there including the role of attitudes and distorted thinking. When I have heard others reference her, they make reference to what she seems to be most famous for - "The Tyranny of the Should". Of course, Cognitive theorists have stolen this idea and have taken her words and twisted them into the term "cognitive distortion" ... or thinking error. This "thinking error" is called "shoulds"...

United States on Jun 13, 2018

Myshkin: One of those rare books that EVERYONE should read. Regardless of whether you feel it applies to YOU - it will apply to people you know, love, care about, run into and work with. It will give you an understanding of the prisons that narcissitic, competitive, arrogant, withdrawn, shy etc people build - why they behave the way they do. And so, we start to feel compassion for them, whilst insulating ourselves against the negative aspects of their personalities.

This is an incredible achievement; the distilled wisdom of 50 years of careful, compassionate, considered analysis of the human condition and how it leads many of us into (seemingly) unstoppable pain and down dark, bleak paths.

Dr Horney was a legitimate equal to Freud and Jung. Her insight feels superhuman at points. Her writing style is succinct, graceful, direct and very, very carefully considered. She was a true professional.

The only bad point is that she died before I was born, so I cannot thank her in person.

United Kingdom on May 25, 2017

MarkAntony: A classic. Karen Horney was clearly a psychiatric thinker and writer of the first rank. Here, in her magnus opus, she embarks on a tour de force of psychological analysis, portraying 'that part of the animal' we call 'attitudinal formation'. No one psychologist or psychiatrist ever gets the whole animal in one swipe, but here Horney has made a stellar contribution to the theory of human neurosis.

Canada on Nov 02, 2014

Amazon Customer: Le livre est destiné aux névrosés légers; il concerne donc la majorité de la population.
Karen part du principe que pour se protéger dans l'enfance on s'est forgé un modèle qui désormais nous étouffe. On reconnait ce comportement car on est "In search of glory", de quelque façon que ce soit (sainteté, virilité, richesse.....).
On devient fier d'un comportement aberrant que les autres ne comprennent pas. Devant la statue de ce qu'on devrait être on oscille entre un état survolté et un découragement. L'aliénation du Moi qui en résulte ne laisse plus la place à des choix authentiques; on est en permanence dans la compulsion.
Quoi faire pour en sortir (dans le cas ou on ne souhaite pas voir un psy)? Selon KH il faut:
- connaitre ces travers et leur mécanismes (c'est le but du livre d'informer)
- les reconnaitre dans les actes de votre vie quotidienne (ce qui suppose un travail personnel).
En principe, le bug démasqué s'enfuit automatiquement de votre psyché.
On a finalement affaire à un livre de développement personnel. Il s'agit de développement personnel très haut de gamme. Rien à voir avec la plupart des ouvrages de ce genre de...

France on Jul 16, 2012