New Frontiers in Horney Theory of Self-Realization

Today there is a growing interest in meditation-relaxation, self-suggestion, and related procedures, and their use in combination with more orthodox psychotherapies is becoming more common. Some of these unorthodox approaches are even replacing some of the more established therapies as the ground-swell of so-called consciousness-expanding techniques catches the attention of public and therapists. Many orthodox therapists feel that the public is awash in gullible acceptance of irrationality; others feel that the true scientist should give unorthodox healing methods a fair chance. Of these other-than-conventional procedures, two general types have emerged in the West. The first includes those in which the goal is more relaxed living, with the accompanying benefits of physical and emotional well-being as stress is reduced – apparently a result of relaxation of the autonomic nervous system. The second includes those which focus on what appears to be a spiritual rebirth and a self-renewing, an inner, transcendental self-realization. Although Transcendental Meditation (TM) and similar practices are known to the scientific community, more spiritual-philosophical-psychological approaches generally subsumed as metaphysical-religious and developed in the United States are hardly given a passing thought.

In some modern psychoanalytic approaches, the primary objective is an identifying of and mobilizing of the self – a holistic, total transformation; routinely, neurotic blockages are resolved as a preparatory expedient. In the forefront of this movement was Karen Horney. As her theory evolved, she became increasingly interested in understanding and promoting what she called the struggle toward self-realization. It is this concept as a dynamic, unfolding, inner activity, explored from different perspectives, that will be the subject of this paper. For today, more than ever, the centuries-old maxim “as within, so without” needs to be kept in mind as a cornerstone in theory and the