Feminist and Other Psychoanalytic Trends Essay

The contributions of the socio- cultural approaches to individualizedity, by theorists akin K arn Horney, Nancy Chodorow and Margaret Mahler, focusing on social and cultural variables, are compared with that of biologically driven theories. Freud had left psychoanalysis foc apply on the role played by biology in personality develop custodyt. objet dart biology is important to individual biography, so, too, are an individuals tone history and the presiding cultural and historical context (Kroger, 1996, p. 16).Karen Horney departed from some of the prefatorial principles of Sigmund Freud and suggested social and cultural factors for neuroses and personality disorders. She differed from Freuds view of female psychological science and his inferior portrayal of women. Horneys realization that, Freudian female psychological science was only an offshoot of male psychology, to be expected in a male-oriented culture, came when she experienced childbirth (Foty, 2008, para. 1). She gave t he concept of womb envy, opposite to the theory of phallus envy, given by Freud.In her book, The Neurotic Personality of Our Time (1937), Horney phrased that emphasis is put on the actually existing conflicts and the neurotics attempts to lap them, in the treatment of neurosis. (p. vii). She did not discount the importance of childhood experiences, as theorized by Freud, but disliked the one-sided fascination that childhood held for psychoanalysts (p. vii). accord to Freud the tussle between id, ego and superego lead to anxiety.However, Karen Horney in her book, Self compend (1942), said that, Freuds disbelief in a wish for ego development is linked up with his postulate that the ego is a wonky agency tossed about among the claims of instinctual drives, of the outside world and of a forbidding scruples (p. 23). She disagreed with this analysis and theorized that the infants anxiety is caused when the child feels isolated and wholly in a hostile world. She argued that, Pare ntal indifference, a lack of fondness and affection in childhood causes anxiety (as cited in Boeree, 2006, Development section, para. 2). consort to Horney, children have two basic requirements need for affection and approval, and need for safety. These two unavoidably are the most important amongst the ten needs that she gave for dealing with anxiety and they emerge due to indifference or lack of warmth from parents. She gave three coping strategies for dealing with these needs moving-toward, which is compliant type, confusable to Adlers getting or leaning approach moving-against, which is the hostile type, alike(p) to Adlers ruling or dominant type moving-away, which is the detached type, akin to Adlers avoiding type ( Boeree, 2006, supposition section).Freud brought forth the individual from the 19th-century family with his concept of the personal unconscious, reformulating ideas about gender and sexuality. Thereafter feminism gained support from psychoanalysis, which was itself transform by war, revolution, socio-cultural change, and theories given by Horney and Melanie Klein (Lieberman, 2004). Melanie Kleins Object analogys Theory emphasized the ego development of the children, during their early years, as universe related to parts of objects rather than the whole.Margaret Mahler conducted extensive observations of healthy contract-infant and mother-toddler dyads in a naturalistic setting to delineate the process by which the child differentiates itself from its base care-taker and becomes an autonomous person(Kroger,1996, p. 51). According to Mahler, separation and individualism are the processes used by infants in the early years of life. Separation is the childs emergence from a symbiotic fusion with the mother, whereas individuation is those achievements patsy the childs assumption of his own individual characteristics (p.51). Mahler gave four stages of separation- individuation process Differentiation (5 to 10 months), which is the beg inning of the difference between self and the primary caregiver Practicing (10 to 16 months), which marks the emergence of motor abilities reconciliation (16 to 24 months), during which, children first get a real sense that they are individuals, separate from their mothers (Mahler, 2007) Consolidation and object Constancy (24 to 36 months), in which the kids lie with that their mother will be back and are not sickish in their absence.Two processes take place at this last variety The achievement of a definite individuality, and the attainment of a authorized degree of object constancy(Kroger, 1996, p. 53). In her book The Reproduction of Mothering, Nancy Chodorow (1978), another(prenominal) Object Relations theorist, pointed out, women experience a sense of self-in-relation that is in crease to mens creation of a self that wishes to deny relation and connection(p. viii). Mothers by virtue of their gender, experience daughters like them and sons unlike.Consequently, girls and bo ys internalize these differences and transform these unconscious maternal communications through and through their own intra-psychic capacities. (p. viii). This leads to men being more independent and women more empathetic. The girls accompaniment to her mother is preoedipalconcerned with early mother-infant relational issues and issues of dependence and individuation. A Boys auxiliary to his mother is oedipal, expressing his sense of difference and male oppositeness to her. (p. 97).Freuds Oedipus complex was to explain sexual identity whereas the individuation process explains the childs gender identity. Separation-individuation theory outlines the importance of further in human development (Edward, Ruskin & antiophthalmic factor Turrini, 1991, p. 3). The relationship between mother and child during infancy plays an integral role in the childs growth in later years. separation-individuation assumes different developmental pathways for men and women, with men cultivating a perso nality style that emphasizes autonomy and women cultivating one in which attachment needs take precedence(Gnaulati & Heini, 2001).References Boeree, C. G. (2006). Personality theories. In Shippensburg University my website. Retrieved touch 10, 2008, from http//webspace. ship. edu/cgboer/perscontents. html. Chodorow, N. (1978). The reproduction of mothering Psychoanalysis and the sociology of gender. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press. Edward, J. , Ruskin, N. , Turrini, P. (1992). Separation/Individuation Theory and application. (2nd ed. ). New York Brunner-Routledge. Foty, G. R. (1988). A Mind of Her Own The Life of Karen Horney.Smithsonian, 19, n5. p. 127(2). Retrieved March 15, 2008, from British Council Journals Database via Gale http//find. galegroup. com/ips/start. do? prodId=IPS Gnaulati, E. , & Heine, B. J. (2001). Separation-individuation in late adolescence an investigation of gender and ethnic differences. The Journal of Psychology, 135, 1. p. 59(12). Retrieved March 15, 2008, from British Council Journals Database via Gale http//find. galegroup. com/ips/start. do? prodId=IPS Horney, K. (1942). Self analysis. London Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd. Horney, K. (1937). The neurotic personality of our time.London Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. , Ltd. Kroger, J. (1996). Identity in adolescence The balance between self and other. London Routledge. Lieberman, E. J. (2004). Zaretsky, Eli. Secrets of the Soul A accessible and Cultural History of Psychoanalysis. Library Journal, 129, 10. p. 162(1). Retrieved March 15, 2008, from British Council Journals Database via Gale http//find. galegroup. com/ips/start. do? prodId=IPS Mahlers Theory of Development. (2007). KidsDevelopment. Retrieved March 15, 2008, from http//www. kidsdevelopment. co. uk/MahlersDevelopmentTheory. html