Adolescent Diaries of Karen Horney Literature review

Adolescent Diaries of Karen Horney - Literature review Example Horney’s early childhood was marked by divergent behavioral tendencies. For instance, she had an unusual fancy for her elder brother. This was most probably a psychological response to arising from wrong perceptions of her father as a ‘dictator’. Her intellectual capabilities were just developing into more varied and complex perceptions at this time. Her early childhood was also marked by rebellion against her father’s autocratic pontifications. She openly rebelled against his despotic commands and sought to self-assert on everything that she felt was important. In addition to this marked tendency to oppose her father because she felt that he didn’t love her enough, deep down this small girl there was evolving perceptive disbelief in the existing dispensation of affairs. She alleged that her father loved her brother much more than he did her. She was not only ambitious but also constantly focused on intellectual pursuits. At the age of nine, she felt that her image suffered from some inadequacies. She was even depressed by the feeling that she wasn’t beautiful, though by any standards she was pretty enough. With the subsequent rejection by her brother of her unusual behavior towards him, there developed a period of collapse into dejection and depression. On and off a relapse into bouts of depression could be noticed during this period. She was more of a narcissist or an introvert that showed an unusual interest in the self-image (Quinn, 1989). Subsequent to her parents’ divorce in 1904, her mother moved into a separate place with the kids. Karen was one of the first few girls to be admitted to a German University for medicine. Finally, she graduated from the University of Berlin in 1913. It was during this period that she met her future husband, Oskar Horney. She married him in 1909 and in 1910 she had her first baby girl, Brigitte. Two other girls followed and Karen was a happy mother.