Who Is Karen Horney's Unconscious Anxiety?

From Karen Horney’s perspective, Joe suffers from unconscious anxiety that makes him move towards, against or away from some people in his life. According to Cervone & Pervin (2016), anxiety is what alerts the conscious mind or ego to danger. Because of his past experiences, Joe seems to have a negative attitude towards life and some people around him. He may, for instance, develop the distrust for elder men based on his father’s behavior. He may also have erroneously perceived unfairness and uncertainty in his judgment of his mother’s condition. Moreover, Joe may reason that life is challenging and entertaining, mainly because he is being forced to bear significantly enormous responsibilities in his young adulthood. Because of these and other attitudes, Joe may have developed …show more content…
He may be unaware of this anxiety, bearing in mind the fact that it takes place in the unconscious mind (Horney, 2013). The anxiety in Joe’s mind is, however, manifested in the form of depression, intense hatred for his father and low self-esteem. Joe particularly hates his father because, as Horney argues, unconscious anxiety may drive someone to move towards or against some people and away from others. Joe is evidently emotionally and psychologically moving towards his father whom he considers terrible and unfriendly.
Adler’s Theory
From Alfred Adler’s perspective, Joe is suffering from inferiority complex and has skewed experience of his social, love and occupational tasks. Joe’s claim that he never feels to be good enough may be seen as a sign of inferiority complex in his being. Because of the