neurotic need
in psychoanalytic theory, an excessive drive or demand that may arise out of the strategies individuals use to defend themselves against basic anxiety. Karen D. Horney enumerated 10 neurotic needs: for affection and approval, for a partner to take over one’s life, for restriction of one’s life, for power, for exploitation of others, for prestige, for admiration, for achievement, for self-sufficiency and independence, and for perfection. When an individual’s personality is dominated by a few neurotic needs, he or she may exhibit a neurotic trend.