Ego Integrity Versus Despair
Inevitably, most of us keep our appointment with old age. But, according to
Erikson, we still have one more crisis to resolve. Reflections on past experi-ences and the inevitability of life ’s end cause us to develop either a sense of
integrity orfeelings of despair . Men and women who look back on their lives
with satisfaction will pass through this final developmental stage with a senseof integrity. “It is the acceptance of one’ s one and only life cycle …as some-
thing that had to be and that, by necessity, permitted of no substitution, ”
Erikson wrote (1968, p. 139). People who fail to develop this sense of integ-rity fall into despair. They realize that time is now all too short, that the op-
tions and opportunities available to younger people are no longer there. A life
has passed, and those who wish they could do it all differently will expresstheir despair through disgust and contempt for others. Although few things in
life are sadder than an older person filled with despair, few things are more
satisfying than an elderly person filled with a sense of integrity.
KAREN HORNEY
Unlike many neo-Freudians, Karen Horney (pronounced Horn-Eye) was not astudent of Freud ’s. Instead, Horney studied Freud ’s work indirectly and later
taught psychoanalysis at the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute and the NewYork Psychoanalytic Institute. And, like many psychoanalysts, she began to
question some of the basic tenets of Freudian theory. In particular, Horney
found she could not accept some of Freud’ s views concerning women. Freud
maintained that men and women were born with different personalities. Hor-
ney argued that cultural and social forces are far more responsible than bio-
logy for some of the apparent differences between the genders.
Eventually Horney became so disenchanted with the Freudian position
that she and the members of the New York Psychoanalytic Institute agreedshe should leave the institute. She resigned in 1941 and founded her own
American Institute for Psychoanalysis. Horney explored cultural and socialinfluences on personality development throughout her career. The prominent
role she gave to these social influences can be seen in two of her contributions
to the psychoanalytic approach: her views on neurosis and what she called
“feminine psychology. ”
Neurosis
We all know people who fit Horney’ s description of neurotic. Let me give
three examples of people I have met. One is a woman who at first appears
friendly and warm. She ’s always involved in social activities and is quick to
pass along a compliment. But people soon find that her attention turns into
demands. She can ’t stand to be alone, can ’t accept the idea that her friends or
romantic partners would be interested in doing anything without her. Although
her relationships never work out for long, she inevitably “falls in love ”al-
most as soon as she meets the next man. The second example is a man whowas disliked by almost everyone he went to college with. Few people escapedKaren Horney 111