Sigmund Freud’s original seduction theory stated that repressed memories of sexual trauma in childhood led to the construction of hysterical symptoms and that reliving and remembering those memories would alleviate the symptoms. He then later changed his original statement and concluded that hysteria was rather caused by repressed memories of sexual fantasies than the original claim of actual event. Freud’s theory was not well accepted throughout the scientific community. Many scientists in the community believe that Freud had not made genuine discoveries of the actual abuse, but he rather suggested such memories to the clients and the materials were fantasies rather than actual memory. Soon after his theory, he retracted what he had originally …show more content…
Supporting this reason, many writers state that Freud credited his patients with telling him the stories of seduction, while in his later papers presenting the theory, Freud specifically states that his patients never told him any stories of seduction in childhood. This shows his inconsistency with the data that was collected to form this theory. The third reason why he may have retracted his theory is because Freud may have forced his patients to confabulate false memories of abuse. Powell and Boer added, “Confirmation with only two of eighteen patients does not provide strong evidence that such memoires are generally valid.” Additionally, these scientists stated false memories of these traumatic events can be create with or without hypnosis leading several to believe that Freud implanted memories in the minds of his patients. This goes to prove that the evidence that Freud had about memories not being false was to a great extent flawed. Finally, Freud’s medical community had been misunderstood. Freud’s colleagues were extremely shocked when hearing about his findings. So much that they shamed and threatened him to not publish what he found. This reaction from the community alone could have had an impact on his decision to retract his theory. These four reasons could have potentially been the reasons as to why Freud retracted his theory about
Freud starts his report by informing the readers of the incompleteness of his analysis and preparing them for a fragmented case. He admits that though the two dreams of Dora were recorded immediately after his session, “the case history itself was only committed to writing from memory, after the treatment was at an end […] thus the record is not absolutely – phonographically - exact” (4). Already, it becomes clear that the case will be based off of potentially invalid information. Freud attempts to defend this cause of skepticism by stating that the recollection remained fresh and heightened in his mind by his personal interest in the case (4). Freud clearly recognizes the opportunity for criticism due to the lack of information and accompanying lack of validity in his arguments, but he’s more intent on completing the report and proving his sexual desire and dream interpretat...
The. Freud, S., 1962. Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality. New York: Basic Books, Inc. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: Malady or Myth?
Freud’s theory was developed from speculation based on
Sigmund Freud first theorized the psychosexual theory after studying a patients mental health. The theory states that a human develops from underlying unconscious motives in order to achieve sensual satisfaction.
Sigmund Freud is considered to be one of the most studied and respected historical figures in psychology. Freud has had a huge impact on the way we think today. He also is responsible for creation psychoanalysis. Sigmund Freud is even known as the “father of psychoanalysis”. Through endless contentious theories such as, the Case of Anna O, the Unconscious Mind, the Psyche, and the most infamous of his theories, the Psychosexual stage, Freud has generated many fans and supporters. His works has earned him a place in the list of psychology legends today.
...hin hypnotherapeutic practice. Freud’s regression technique is usefully employed within hypnosis in order to gain insight or to recognise the source of a problem e.g. inner child work, counting back. Furthermore, Freud’s concept regarding trauma fixation which concerns psychosexual stages may be used to indicate the root cause of habitual behaviours e.g. oral re: eating, oral aggressive re: nail biting, anal-retentive re: OCD. Having said this it is important to recognise the flaws within Freud’s research. Firstly, his sample group are not universally representative. Secondly, the culture and era make theories less relevant to today. Furthermore, research comes from a personal perspective and therefore is not empirically sound. It could also be argued that too much emphasis is put on sexuality being at the root of psychological and behavioural problems throughout.
Freud appears to have been undecided whether or not homosexuality was pathological, expressing different views on this issue at different times and places in his work. Freud frequently called homosexuality an "inversion", something which in his view...
Sigmund Freud in the late 19th century the validity of recovered memories has been hotly debated by the psychoanalytic community. Recovered memories are forgotten memories of traumatic experiences we remember later on in life often by psychoanalysis or psychotherapy that can lead to the possible creation of a pseudomemory. Freud believed that these recovered memories of possible sexual abuse were the solution of problems of the origin of hysteria and obsessional neurosis (1), this is stated in “Seduction Theory” a hypothesis suggested by Freud himself. Seduction Theory, a hypothesis suggested by Freud stated “A repressed memory of an early childhood sexual abuse or molestation experience was the essential precondition for hysterical or obsessive symptoms with the addition of an active sexual experience up to the age of eight”(1). This theory was abandoned after only a year after proposing it, as a result of coming to terms with the fact that the memories of his patients were predominantly false, and could have been caused by the suggestive methods he used in their psychoanalytical therapy. Freud’s first case in the study of recovered memories was of Miss G. de B, she came to him at the suggestion of her cousin with a stuttering speech, and after psychoanalysis lead Freud to proclaim that she had been sexually abused by her father despite the fact she had no recollection of such events taking place, at first she whole heartedly believed him until
that Freud concluded reflects in some of his work and even in his theory: Psychoanalytic
Freud had developed his theory of hysteria and how its origin came from repressed sexual desire. He diagnosed Dora as someone who was suffering from hysteria as a result of this repressed desire. He used the fact that when Herr K. was not around, Dora was unable to talk, and that showed that her symptoms of hysteria were directly correlated with Herr K. He concluded from his invalid evidence, which consisted of Dora's dreams and her past childhood experiences, that she was indeed repressing her love for Herr K. and this cam...
In "The Psychogenesis of a Case of Homosexuality in a Woman", Freud discusses a case of a young woman brought to him by her parents for treatment as a homosexual. Although he states that Psychoanalysis is not truly a tool for curing homosexuality, but one to help those with inner conflict in one particular area or another, he attempts to study the girl to see if Psychoanalysis could be of any help to her. Once he realized that the girl had a deep rooted bitterness towards men, he called off his study of her and told her parents that if they were to seek more psychoanalysis for her it should be sought from a woman. Prior to this discovery he found a few things of interest that may have attributed to her choice of sexual object.
Sigmund Freud created strong theories in science and medicine that are still being studied today. Freud was a neurologist who proposed many distinctive theories in psychiatry, all based upon the method of psychoanalysis. Some of his key concepts include the ego/superego/id, free association, trauma/fantasy, dream interpretation, and jokes and the unconscious. “Freud remained a determinist throughout his life, believing that all vital phenomena, including psychological phenomena like thoughts, feelings and phantasies, are rigidly determined by the principle of cause and effect” (Storr, 1989, p. 2). Through the discussion of those central concepts, Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis becomes clear as to how he construed human character.
The methods he used to obtain his information and data raised questions by other scientists. His research on children was lacking, as was his use of empirical studies, his research was male-dominated and also lacked universality. The theory of the id, ego and superego develops from birth into childhood therefore the use of case studies on adults and the lack of empirical study does not seem feasible enough to have developed this theory. First of all there is no guarantee that the memories of these adults on their childhood would be accurate, there was not any factual, re-testable data so it lacked reliability and validity secondly each case and person’s experience is different and therefore cannot be use to determine the development of an entire population. Freud’s theory was further biased due to him overlooking social and environmental aspects, which prevent universality; he was a European man who researched other upper middle class Europeans whose everyday living and circumstances differed greatly from others in
Freud originally attempted to explain the workings of the mind in terms of physiology and neurology ...(but)... quite early on in his treatment of patients with neurological disorders, Freud realised that symptoms which had no organic or bodily basis could imitate the real thing and that they were as real for the patient as if they had been neurologically caused. So he began to search for psychological explanations of these symptoms and ways of treating them.
Freud began experimenting with hypnosis and asking his patients to freely speak while being hypnotized. In this he discovered the existence of an unconscious. Freud referred to this as "free association" and soon began using it with patients who were not hypnotized but merely in a relaxed state. While his patients spoke he found their unconscious minds were releasing memories, sometimes painful ones, that had been trapped within their minds since childhood. He called this uncovering of memories psychoanalysis (Myers 420).