REPRESENTATION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS IN KAREN HORNEY’S CHARACTEROLOGICAL ANALYSIS

Abstract

The purpose of research is to establish K. Horney’s views on psychological problems, by means of theoretical analysis of literature. The term "psychological problem" is not mentioned by Karen Horney, however, she describes emotional, cognitive and behavioral problems of individual components of personality, which allows us to treat the problems as psychological. Emotional, cognitive and behavioral problems are interrelated components that allow us to speak about the specific structure of psychological problems. According to Karen Horney, problems appear due to socio-cultural conditions that create stressful situations for the person (or their environment), their processing depends on the personal characteristics, and in some cases leads to neurosis or psychological problems. Neurosis emerges in the setting of psychological problems and a failed attempt to adapt to them; neurosis can be regarded as a secondary problem on the background of the primary psychological problem. Karen Horney identifies personal problems, problems of work activity, relationship problems and problems associated with the aim. Social issues, particularly the problem of work activity or relationship problems, can occur secondary and result from personal problems. The results obtained show that, in spite of the fact that Karen Horney’s studies did not focus on psychological problems, by comparing problems with a neurosis, she refers to certain types of psychological problems, their causes, mechanisms of occurrence, structure, implications which allows one to highlight the psychological problems as a separate psychological category. The results are expanding the understanding of the matter and may be useful in practical psychology when dealing with clients.