The Neurotic Personality of Our Time

Karen Horney's The Neurotic Personality of Our Time posits that environmental and social factors, rather than instinctual drives, are the primary causes of neuroses and personality disorders. Horney departed from Freudian theory, suggesting that basic anxiety, stemming from a child's feeling of isolation and helplessness in a hostile world, is a root cause of neurosis. Strategies developed to cope with this anxiety can become persistent, irrational needs.1

Neuroticism, as a personality trait, describes the degree to which an individual experiences the world as distressing and unsafe. Highly neurotic individuals tend to be anxious and prone to negative emotions, while those low in neuroticism are more content and stable. Horney's work emphasizes that understanding these societal influences is crucial for psychoanalytic therapy.21