Karen's life.
Born on September 16th, 1885, in Blankenese, Germany; Karen Danielsen, was one of six children (four male half siblings from her fathers’ previous marriage) to be raised in her parents' household. Her father, a sea captain named Berndt Danielsen, was nicknamed ‘The Bible-thrower’ by her siblings because he was a disciplinarian figure who was a religious and traditional thinker and displayed anger outbursts, especially when the children misquoted parts of the bible
Clotilde Danielsen, the mother of Karen and one of Karens’ siblings Berndt, was a ‘narcissistic mother who openly despised her husband’ Growing up, Karen kept a journal documenting her thoughts, feelings and struggles through early life. A book Religion in Personality Theory, 2014 focused on aspects of her diary around religion and Karens views that religion was prejudiced towards women and added how she was challenged with the beliefs. Karen continued in school working hard with the feeling because she wasn’t particularly beautiful that she would make a better life expressing her natural intellectual ability.
From twelve years of age, she could read and write, and decided to go further in school (at the time it was not ‘status quo’ for girls/women to progress, unless they were to be teachers or other professionals), Clotilde, Karens mother, was supported in this decision given Karens already natural skills. However, her father Berndt was opposed to this idea.
The motivated Karen, persisted and in 1906, she achieved acceptance to medical school (which was uncommon for females), studying at the Universities of Berlin and Gottingen before graduating in Freiburg (1913). During Karens’ studies, she married Oskar Horney, a lawyer in 1909 and in 1911 her mother died. Karen experienced depression through this period and it was around this time before graduating, she decided to narrow her focus to psychoanalysis in academia.
Karens husband, was not unlike her father (Freud’s’ cliché perhaps) and in a year the two had their first of three daughters, Brigette. In the 1920’s, Karens opinion on parenting changed, seeing the atmosphere she, too, was raised in. In 1923, Oskar lost his job and developed meningitis, with Karens’ brother Berndt (one of five older brothers) whom she was very close to, died from pulmonary infection triggering a second depression where she considered suicide ideation.
In 1926, Dr. Horney left Oskar, after he became argumentative and she moved to America and became more successful in psychology, starting an intimate relationship with academic Harry Stack Sullivan, which ended abruptly.
Karen died in 1952, leaving psychology with new information and theories and a new research centre The Karen Horney Clinic was created.
