Freud: Master of Persuasion?

The reviewer notes that the author of this book (see record 1993-98146-000), through his thorough and scrupulous analysis of Freud's famous case histories, has laid bare the possibility that some of Freud's presentations were conjectures or misrepresentations. In discussions of the infanti...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Contemporary psychology 1995-05, Vol.40 (5), p.480-481
Main Author: Freudenberger, Herbert J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Freud (Sigmund)
Human
Psychoanalytic Theory
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The reviewer notes that the author of this book (see record 1993-98146-000), through his thorough and scrupulous analysis of Freud's famous case histories, has laid bare the possibility that some of Freud's presentations were conjectures or misrepresentations. In discussions of the infantile seduction theory, the writer indicates that in 1896 Freud claimed "that the cause of hysteria and obsessional neurosis lay in perverse sexual experiences undergone by his patients in early childhood" (p. 13). It is further conjectured that much of what was reported were fantasies and not actual happenings. In tracing the case of Dora, the author presents references to Dora's analysis with Freud and suggests that he, Freud, extended the meaning of symptoms to fit into his theoretical conjectures. Esterson makes a rather convincing argument that Freud tended to shift findings and statements from one paper to the next depending on what did and what did not fit. Esterson, through cogent presentations, shows Freud's dream work, fantasy materials, and Freudian slips as distortions often clothed in the art of persuasion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
ISSN:0010-7549
DOI:10.1037/003674