Early Childhood:
Karen Horney was born September 16, 1885 to Clotilde and Berndt Danielson, in Hamburg, Germany. There they lived with their four children. Her father a ship’s captain often allowed her to travel with him on many of his voyages. Horney became very close to her mother because of her father’s lack of affection towards her. She and Berndt Jr. became very close, where she began to develop a crush on her older brother but he rejected her. Her father preferred her brother over her which led to Horney’s state of depression which would affect the rest of her life.
In 1906, Horney entered medical, which her parents hated. She stated, "If I couldn't be pretty, I decided I would be smart." Shortly after entering school she met and married her husband, law student Oscar Horney. Oscar was the disciplinary of the two, to their three daughters often reminding Horney of her father’s harsh punishments. After the death of her mother and brother in 1911 and 1923, Horney went into another state of depression. In 1930, Horney packed up her three daughters Brigitte, Marianne and Renate, leaving her husband behind, and moved to the United States. It was then she developed partnerships and became friends with other theories and later developed her own.
Career:
Karen Horney began to partner with Abraham and follow behind Freudian’s analysis. While she followed much of Freud’s theory; she disagreed with his views about female psychology. Karen quickly rejected his concept of penis