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Dr. Jack Danielian's paper demonstrates his deep understanding of Horney theory and its contribution to psychological insight of members of our species. His description of Horney's metaphysics is further evidence of his profound understanding.
I am wary of the word metaphysics only because some people may confuse this adjective as somewhat metaphorical, esoteric and impractical. Horney was well aware of the importance of past history, but she was very much a “here and now” clinician. For her, all was in process and change. But I know that Danielian believes that Horney theory is above all, practical. The metaphysics of which she speaks is part of a unique liberation from rigid Freudian theory and other dogma and orthodoxy. Hers is a theory derived from exquisite clinical perception and insight.
Horney surely knew that a human brain contains 100 billion neurons. These have the potential to connect in trillions of combinations. This is what makes us human and enormously adaptable and creative. Horney was a great anatomist of the human psyche. She understood the juxtapositions of human intra-psychic opposites. She knew that there were great cultural influences, in establishing self-identity. She envisioned attempts at comprehensive integration through pride investments supporting an idealized image. She well understood desires and expectations beyond the possibility of human actualization and the destructive self-hate and damage these engender. Through comprehension of inner conflicts, pride, culture, she helped us uncover the machinations of anxiety and the suffering and symptoms these produce. Her pride system, “trends”, self-“idealizations”, and much else gives us tools to relive emotional suffering.
I believe Horney and Danielian have gone beyond psychoanalysis. Their theory and extensions help us to provide a therapy that transcends the