Karen Horney (September 16, 1885 – December 4, 1952)
Horney was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1885, studied medicine, and became a psychiatrist. Although she studied Freudian psychoanalysis at the Berlin Institute for Psychoanalysis, she gradually moved away from Freud’s theory and developed his own theory.
In 1932, she emigrated to the United States to avoid the rise of the Nazis and conducted clinical and educational activities at Columbia University’s New York Psychoanalytic Institute.
In New York, she established a new trend of psychoanalysis called the Horney School.'' She explained anxiety and neurosis in terms of distortions in culture, family environment, and interpersonal relationships,” and developed a theory centered on self-actualization'' and the conflict between the original self and the idealized self.”
She died in New York City on December 4, 1952 at the age of 67.
1) Neurosis and Human Growth
Of all of Karen Horney’s works, my top recommendation, by far, is “Neurosis and Human Growth” (1950), published near the end of her life. Her earlier works, such as “Self-Analysis” (1942) and “Our Inner Conflicts” (1945), are only significant for showing the development of Horney’s thought and research before reaching the pinnacle of “Neurosis and Human Growth.” For the average person, or someone with mental health issues, they are not particularly worth reading compared to “Neurosis and Human Growth.”
Conversely, “Neurosis and Human Growth” is essential reading because it deepens, expands, and integrates the content of her earlier works.
Of all of Horney’s works, “Neurosis and Human Growth” should be the first one you read.
Neurosis and Human Growth: The Struggle Towards Self-Realization (Norton, 1950）
Amazon.com link
There have been two Japanese translations of this work, but unfortunately, both are out of print. They may still be available in libraries, etc.
Translation 1: The Struggle for Self-Realization: Neurosis and Human Development (translated by Mihoko Fujisawa and Yukiko Tsushima, Academia Publishing) (1980)
Translation 2: The Collected Works of Horney, Volume 6, Neurosis and Human Development (translated by Yuzuru Enomoto and Tatsuro Tanji, Seishin Shobo) (1988)
2) A Mind of Her Own: The Life of Karen Horney (by Susan Quinn, 1988)
This is an excellent biography of Karen Horney by Susan Quinn.
It provides a detailed description of Horney’s life and the development of her research, offering a comprehensive understanding of her life.
It appears that a Japanese translation has never been published.