Karen Horney (1885–1952)— probably the most mother-like figure in psychoanalysis — has introduced her Theory of Neurosis guided by her experience as an analyst, and in opposition with many views upon it at that time.
She identified 10 neurotic needs and clustered them into 3 types of neurotics. For these to make sense, we’ll first explain the fundamentals of neurosis, in short.
At the root of neurosis lays an unresolved, even unidentified conflict, often ignored and covered up with attempts at resolving its symptoms. The truly potent conflicts, which have the power to lead towards neurosis, are based on values…
Greek mythology is a rather odd place to be extracting modern-day how-to advice. No wonder. People don’t seem to be dueling centaurs, giants, or chimeras anymore, but they definitely often duel stress, insecurities, and trauma, which resemble monsters just as much. Legends have survived the test of time due to their immensely powerful symbolism towards the struggles, successes, plights, and joys of humankind, and they shall do so, until the end of written or spoken word.
The legend of the Minotaur (in super-short) goes like this:
Minos, the king of Crete, gets surprised to find out his wife has been bewitched and, after a rather bizarre entanglement with a magical…
Anyone can make a list of at least 5 things that make them happy. Some we do regularly, like getting our favorite latte from that funky coffee shop; some we do a few times a year, like going skiing, hiking, or scuba diving. Yet, a few days after returning home, our old reality sets back in and things simply don’t feel vibrant and breezy anymore. Even worse, sometimes we get so nostalgic that our “happiness level” seems to drop even lower than before we’ve left.
But why? Wasn’t the whole point of the trip, the latte or the hike to…
Anger, frustration, and fear have been alongside us like really insistent stray dogs for a long time now and I bravely assume that, in one way or another, we all have an intimate knowledge of them.
Sometimes we take the hits well, our favorite team loses a match or the presentation we prepared didn't impress the viewers as much as we expected. Other times, loved ones die and families lose homes. To assume life is fair is as mad as believing in the happily ever after. …
Although most of us hated memorizing the principles of logic back in High School, as many other subjects we rioted against, their utility can not be denied. It’s simply a matter of thinking things through, the right way. Often, we are taken advantage of, based on our inability to assess the validity of claims. Social media, political discourses, stories, all appeal to our reason and critical thinking to some degree, and despite being convinced we’re aces in figuring out if there’s something wrong in the way we receive and process information, you’d be surprised to find the contrary. …
The desire to manipulate public opinion has been present in every state, ethnic, social, or cultural entity, and has been present in social circles since the beginning of time, evolving from primitive to almost imperceptible for an untrained eye. Many of us still associate this term with war poster campaigns, protest banners, and street graffiti, yet its presence goes a long way and it has extended its slender, vile fingers up to adverts and commercials today.
What even is propaganda?
Doob defines it as a systematic attempt by individuals interested in controlling the attitudes of groups of individuals through the use of suggestions and…
Nightmares are constantly present in our lives and literature for various purposes. Over time, they have been considered premonitions, divine messages or rationalizations of extreme situations, dreamy fulfillments of desires, or repeated attempts to succeed in a current conflict. In times of revolt, dreams can offer radical alternatives, giving artists a way to tell dangerous truths. To bring light into this, let’s take a close look at what psychoanalysis and neurology have to say.
The nightmare can be characterized as a frightening or disturbing dream, which has the potential to arouse in the subject feelings such as fear, sadness, despair…
The problem of the connection between mind and brain, between mental and physical, has been debated since antiquity and many theories have been systematically advanced and dismantled. In the following, we will analyze arguments that support and try to contradict Reductive Physicalism.
In order to be able to debate conclusively on the basis of this theory, we must first consider certain steps that have led, over time, to the shaping of the theory to its most “polished” point, as we know it today.
Physicalism tries to prove that the properties and states of the mind are physical, that is, properties…
John Locke (1632–1704) was a renowned philosopher, academician, and researcher in the medical field of Oxford. Locke’s most famous work is entitled “Essay on the Understanding of Human Nature” (1689) and can easily be considered one of the first great defenses of modern empiricism, which seeks to determine the limits of human understanding in a broad spectrum of topics.
The issue of personal identity and the multitude of sensitive aspects surrounding this subject has been a challenging topic for many philosophers. The theory of personal identity is the philosophical confrontation with the final questions of our own existence, such as…
The “Bard of Avon” is incontestably one of the most iconic literature figures of all time. His early plays, mainly comedies and tragedies, were later regarded as some of the most genuine works ever produced in these genres. His works are portraying the complexities of human psychology which offer lessons of leadership, management, and communication principles to contemporary managers.
Some of Shakespeare’s plays, such as Henry V, Julius Caesar, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, or Hamlet have often been considered valuable sources of consultation to corporate practitioners in terms of managerial counseling. …
