NEUROTIC NEEDS

BY
KAREN HORNEY
Horney was convinced - both by her own experiences and those of her subjects - that
children who grow up having their basic needs (e.g. safety, food, love) met develop
healthy self-concepts and ways of interacting with others. Conversely, children who grow
up feeling unsafe, unloved, and undervalued develop anxiety and consequently adopt
maladaptive strategies to cope with this anxiety. 
Horney believed that the  childhood
environment of 
environment

 played a key role in 

personality developmen
t
.She felt strongly that negative experiences in early
childhood could trigger anxiety in adulthood.
 Basic Evil, Hostility, and Anxiety
The opposite of having one's needs met is experiencing
basic evil. Basic evil is defined as parental indifference and
may refer to any behavior that does not meet a child’s
psychological needs. If a child experiences any form of basic
evil - abuse, neglect, preference for one sibling over another
- it sets the stage for her to grow into a psychologically
maladjusted adult. The child believes that if her own parents
cannot or will not love and care for her, no one can or will.
The wounds of basic evil form basic hostility: feelings of anger at one’s parents or
caregivers and frustration because of one’s dependence on them. Basic hostility develops
and presents itself in the following way:

The child’s parents exhibit basic evil -> The child wants to avoid the abuse, but cannot leave
because she depends on her parents -> The child cannot express her feelings to her
parents and instead redirects her feelings of rage and hostility toward others
Basic anxiety refers to the maladaptive patterns that develop when children are exposed to
basic evil or any environment that does not meet their basic needs. Basic anxiety results in
the formulation of interpersonal strategies of defense, or rigid ways of relating to others
that may be understood in terms of whether they move toward, against, or away from others.
3 MODES OF ADAPTATION

• MOVING TOWARDS PEOPLE

(DEPENDENT) (COMPLIANT TYPE)
• MOVING AGAINST PEOPLE
(AGGRESSIVE) (AGGRESSIVE TYPE)
 NEUROTIC NEEDS BY KAREN HORNEY

MOVING TOWARDS PEOPLE MOVING AGAINST PEOPLE MOVING AWAY FROM PEOPLE
"If you love me, you will not hurt "If I have power, no one can hurt "If I withdraw, nothing can hurt
me" me" me"
Neurotic Needs:
Neurotic Needs: Neurotic Needs:
4. Need for power and omnipotence and

perfection 9. Need for self-sufficiency

1. Need for affection and approval
5. Need to exploit others

2. Need for partner to take control 10. Need for perfection and
6. Need for social recognition and prestige

7. Need for personal admiration unassailability

3. Need for restriction of life to
8. Need for personal achievement
narrow borders