The Assault on TruthIn 1896, Sigmund Freud presented his revolutionary "seduction theory," arguing that acts of sexual abuse and violence inflicted on children are the direct cause of adult mental illness. Nine years later, Freud completely reversed his position, insisting that these sexual memories were actually fantasies that never happened. Why did Freud retract the seduction theory? And why has the psychoanalytic community gone to such lengths to conceal that retraction? In this landmark book, drawing on his unique access to formerly sealed and hidden papers, Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson dares to uncover the truth about this critical turning point in Freud's career and its enduring impact on the theory and practice of psychoanalysis. The Assault on Truth reveals a reality that neither Freud nor his followers could bear to face. Bracing in its honesty, gripping in its revelations, this is the book that prompted Masson's break with the psychoanalytic community-and launched his subsequent brilliant career as an independent thinker and writer." |
Contents
Freud Fliess and Emma Eckstein | |
Freuds Renunciation of the Theory of Seduction | |
The Strange Case of Ferenczis Last Paper | |
Conclusion | |
Freud and Emma Eckstein | |
Freuds 1896 | |
Ferenczis 1932 | |
Postscript to the 1985 Edition | |
Postscript to the Pocket Edition | |
Notes | |
Other editions - View all
The Assault on Truth: Freud's Suppression of the Seduction Theory Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson No preview available - 1998 |
Common terms and phrases
abuse of children accused adult Aetiology of Hysteria analysis Anna Freud attentats aux moeurs believe bleeding Bloch Breuer Brouardel Charcot child sexual abuse childhood colleagues Congress critical doubt dream earlier early edition Eitingon Emma Eckstein evidence fact fantasies father feelings Ferenczi Fournier Freud says Freud wrote genitals German girl happened hysterical symptoms important incest infantile sexual interest Jones Krafft-Ebing later letters to Fliess literature Löwenfeld masturbation memories Michael Balint morgue mother neurasthenia neurosis never Oedipus complex operation original paper parents Paris passage patients Paul Brouardel person phantasy physician psychiatry psychical psychoanalysis psychological puberty published rape reality reference remember repressed Robert Fliess Sándor Sándor Ferenczi scenes Schur seduction hypothesis seduction theory seems sexual assaults sexual experiences sexual seduction sexual traumas Strachey Studies on Hysteria Tardieu technique tell therapy told translation truth unconscious unpublished letter victims Vienna views Wilhelm Fliess women word writes