Assault on Truth: Freud's Suppression of the Seduction Theory - Hardcover

Masson, J. Moussaieff

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374106428 ISBN 13: 9780374106423

Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1984

Synopsis

An expose of the origins of psychoanalysis argues that Freud's abandonment of the seduction theory was not the result of scientific research

About this title

About the Author:

Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, ex-psychoanalyst and former projects director of the Sigmund Freud Archives, has written more than a dozen books, including the bestsellers The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats, Dogs Never Lie About Love, and When Elephants Weep. A longtime resident of Berkeley, California, he now lives in New Zealand with his wife, two sons, and five cats.

From the Inside Flap:

In 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 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.

About this edition

• Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux
• Publication date: 1984
• ISBN 10: 0374106428
• ISBN 13: 9780374106423
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1