Freuds Seduction Theory Essays - Psychoanalytic Theory,

Freud's Seduction Theory Freud's Seduction Theory During 1895-1896 Sigmund Freud practiced psychoanalysis by listening to his women patients weave cryptic trails down memory lane, as well as trying to decipher them. What he uncovered was that something awful and violent lay in their past. The majority of psychiatrists in this era would have deemed their patient as a hysterical liar, dismissing their memories as fantasy. Freud strayed from the norm in the sense that he believed that these women were telling the truth. Illness did not befall these women due to their ?tainted families? , but because of the atrocities they faced as children. During April of 1896 Freud scraped all the theories, case histories and experience from the depths of his consciousness and manipulated it into written form. The presentation of his ideas met with silence from his colleagues. Despite the predictions of a tarnished reputation, Freud published his newfound theories in The Aetiology of Hysteria. Its title refers to Freud's theory that the basis of all neurosis stemmed from what Freud called ?infantile sex scenes?. This namely became to be known as the ?seduction theory?, the belief that these early childhood experiences were real, not fantasy created out of hysteria, and they had long lasting effects on the adult lives of those who suffered through them. The repercussions of his ideas, both innovative and perverse, earned Freud a seat in seclusion. But as the story goes, Freud eventually came to his senses about the seduction theory and gave up his aberration by publicly retracting his study. The accepted notion is that he literally had to banish the theory from his consciousness in order to move on to his more accepted work. Joined by other physicians, over a three year span, Psychoanalysis earned respect as a therapy and science. How does an innovative idea , supported by spirit and experience , come to be a belief , and then a regret ? And in the answer, lie my intentions and hopes for this paper. I seek to prove that Freud was intrigued by cases involving child abuse, incest as well as other sexually related cases. Upon turning the last page of this paper, the reader will understand that Freud did not develop the seduction theory overnight. Moreover, a gradual impact of his studies and surroundings eventually seeped through his skull and saturated the innermost cortexes of his brain, leaving his thoughts forever changed. Freud in Paris: The beginning of an obsession? Twenty-nine year old Freud ventured on a studious trip to Paris to wrap up his medical education while working under France's leading neurologist, Jean Martin Charcot (1825-1893) at the renowned Salpetriere hospital. Freud's stay in Paris lasted from October 3, 1885 to February 28, 1896. During which, according to Jeffrey Masson, ?Freud was exposed to literature attesting to the reality and indeed the frequency of sexual abuse in early childhood (often occurring within the family); furthermore, in all probability witnessed autopsies at the Paris morgue performed on the young victims of such abuse? (15). Freud has also made insinuations towards his studies in Paris have had a tremendous impact on his later works. Freud's mentor, Jean Charcot, in collaboration with Valentin Magnan, a well known French psychiatrist-produced an article in 1882 entitled ?The Inversion of the Genital Sense and other Sexual Perversions?. The article stresses that madness being taken into account as a factor in sexual accounts. Charcot is also said to have worked with Paul Brouardel on the study of rape in small children by adults. Their work, Les attentets aux moeurs, the last in his series, Cours de medicine legale de la Faculte de Paris, focused on the rapist, instead of the victim. (Masson, 34). The book contains several case histories, all full of horror. Brouardel also conducted autopsies at the Paris morgue. Freud has written several letters expressing his enthusiasm for Brouardel's work. Through examination of the following excerpt one is assured of Freud's participation in the autopsies. Freud writes: I abandoned my occasional attempts at attending other lectures after I have become convinced that all they had to offer were for the most part well constructed rhetorical performances. The only exceptions were Professor Brouardel's forensic autopsies and lectures at the morgue, which I rarely missed. -(Studies in