Karen Horney and Character Disorder: A Guide for the Modern Practitioner

Who is Karen Horney and why are her psychoanalytic ideas so important in today's world of once-per-week dynamic psychotherapy? Horney was one of the first analysts to challenge basic Freudian assertions such as the psychoanalytic account of female development. She had a revolutionary focus on present-oriented treatment, and a powerfully-optimistic attitude toward patient growth and change. This book: introduces, defines, and illustrates the major tenets of Horney's theory and technique discusses Horney's means of fostering an optimistic attitude that strengthens therapy between therapist and the patient demonstrates the special suitablity and the effectiveness of Horney's ideas as they are applied to character disorder and to today's most frequent form of treatment: once-per-week session psychotherapy presents criticisms of Horney's ideas Dr. Irving Solomon prepares practitioners to conduct Horneyan therapy and successfully treat character disorder, the most common dysfunction of our time. Dr. Solomon presents, in a concise and organized fashion, Karen Horney's ideas regarding character psychopathology, accompanied by many illustrative vignettes for practical application. Today's clinician will find that Horney's orientation provides a means of conducting brief treatment that is also meaningfully deep. This book will be of interest to mental health professionals, as well as to lay individuals who seek knowledge of the self, since it realistically, vividly, and authoritatively touches on a multitude of common, easily recognized character trends that destructively complicate our well-being.