Have you ever wondered if you have neurotic personality or are mental ill? Well, it turns out that we all have neurotic personalities and are all mentally ill in some degrees. With the book called The Neurotic Personality of Our Time, I’m going to explore what is neuroticism, and how to identify if someone is neurotic. Written by Karen Horney, who was one of the most influential psychoanalysts of the twentieth century, the book puts forth Horney’s new theories of psychoanalysis and bravely criticizes George Freud, the father of psychology. Specifically, Horney replacesFreud’s biological importance on mental health with the impact of culture and experience.

​In the beginning of the book, Horney discussed the definition of neuroticism. Todefine neuroticism, we have to understand the concept of normal because neurotic is what we see as abnormal and wrong. However, Horney quickly notes that, “The conception of what is normal varies not only with the culture but also within the same culture, in the course of time,” suggesting that we can never define normal as it is constantly changing in different situations. This led to another question: what is boundary line between what is considered normal and neurotic? Horney suggests we are all neurotic in some way, and that the only difference between us and a suicidalperson is the degree of dopamine or depression. When the neurotic disorder causes one’s behavior to deviate from the general pattern of behavior in a given culture, we considered someone neurotic. Instead of biological differences proposed by Freud, Horney argues that experiences and cultures are the most important factors that diversify people’s mental states.

I couldn’t agree more on Horney’s perception of normal as an outcome of culture and experience. For example, homosexuality was considered abnormal and neurotic in the past, but nowadays, it is considered normal, acceptable to majority in west, and is celebrated by many during Pride Month. Another example is women not being married or giving birth. Once considered abnormal and unnatural in the past, it is nowcommon for a woman to be single through her 30s without a child.

I think the concept of normal is formed from our fear of differences and the unknown in our human nature. We use the the title of abnormal to suppress people who are minorities, or simply different from ourselves. This is an expression of the primitive and irrational instincts that we as humans still cannot get rid of after all these centuries of development and civilization. Thus, I believe that the concept of normalis unnecessary and only harmful. I believe that instead of saying normal, mainstreamand common are some better word choices; instead of saying abnormal, try minority, infrequent, and different next time.