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About this quote

What does it mean?
Neuroses often stem from childhood defeats against irrational authority figures.
In plain terms
Childhood defeats against irrational authority cause neurosis.
What can you take from it?
Recognize past authority conflicts in current struggles.

Where it applies

  • therapy
  • understanding anxiety
  • family dynamics

Putting it to work

  • analyzing authority figures
  • healing childhood wounds

Questions to consider

  • What authority figures shaped you?
  • Where do you struggle with authority?

Another view

Not all neuroses come from childhood authority conflicts.

More from Erich Fromm

  1. The psychic task which a person can and must set for himself is not to feel secure, but to be able to tolerate insecurity.

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  2. There can be no real freedom without the freedom to fail.

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  3. The ordinary man with extraordinary power is the chief danger for mankind - not the fiend or the sadist.

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