Word: masson
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...other main influence on Freud's thought, according to Masson, was the criticism and pressure which he received after proposing the seduction theory in the mid-1890's. Standard psychiatric theory in the 19th century emphasized that much of patient's recollections are fantasies, and Freud's original challenge to this orthodoxy was greeted with disapproval. Largely ostracized from the psychoanalytic community. Freud gradually discarded his new theory in order to end his professional isolation, Masson argues...
...earlier chapter, Masson discusses the years Freud spent in Paris in the 1880's, where it is likely that he witnessed autopsies performed on young children who had been abused, raped, and murdered. To Masson, this means that Freud must have known that sexual abuse was a common part of many childhoods and only surrendered his seduction theory to criticism and his guilt over the Eckstein case. Indeed, Masson maintains that Freud was haunted by the seduction theory all his life, for he knew how widespread child abuse was from his time in Paris...
...chapter on Freud in Paris is largely conjecture, based mostly on vague circumstancial evidence about medical activities in late 19th century France. In a passage indicative of the thin ice his assumptions slide on, Masson admits that, "although we cannot prove, in the strict sense of the word, that Freud, too, witnessed such autopsies, it seems very probable that...
...Assault on Truth raises important questions about the origins of psychoanalysis and the rationale for Freud's emphasis on fantasy life, but it may not--as Masson predicts--signal the imminent demise of Freudian psychoanalysis. He clearly distorts much of Freud's later work in order to bring out a contrast with his earlier theories. Freud never excluded real experiences from the realm of psychoanalysis, as Masson contends, but rather came to recognize the importance of fantasy and of personal distortions of actual occurrences in shaping human recollections. General Freudian dian orthodoxy involves a mixture of the two "realities...
Because of this, the book is important as intellectual history, but comes up short as a real challenge to orthodox psychoanalytic theory. Masson has helped to identify the blurring distinctions between fantasy and reality, the modern denial of absolutes. As he has pointed out elsewhere, Freud's emphasis on fantasy has partially led to relativistic concepts in modern ethical, anthropological, and sociological theories...