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In Paul's (1986) description of the evolution of Horney's thought, he refers on several occasions to the “idealized image of oneself” and its neurotic development into the “idealized self.” He singles out this aspect of Horney's thought as constituting a major contribution to the psychoanalytic theory of the self. For example, Paul observes: “Anxiety had given birth to the formation of this [idealized] image in childhood. As development proceeds the person slowly begins to identify with this image. The idealized image actually becomes an idealized self” (1986). He continues:
Self idealization becomes the center of the search for glory. This comprehensive neurotic solution lends a feeling of integration and identity to its bearer. It signifies the outcome of early neurotic development and signals its continuation as it stimulates further alienation and the drive towards actualization of the idealized image.
Paul concludes this part of his analysis with the following statement: ‘The search for glory with self idealization at its core is an even more comprehensive neurotic solution as it contains the drive for perfection, neurotic ambitiousness and the drive for vindictive triumph” (1986).
Paul's discussion of Horney's ideas on the “idealized image,” its development into “the idealized self,” and the “search for glory” as the neurotic attempt to actualize the “idealized self” is, metaphorically speaking, all music to this particular self psychologist's ears. Continuing with the same metaphor, I hear, however faintly, a Kohutian melody. I hear what sounds like Kohut on the archaic grandiose self as well as Kohut on the developmental