User talk:Jeffrey Masson

The page on Emma Eckstein has a paragraph that is almost impossible to understand. Here it is: Jeffrey Masson in his assault on Freud's abandonment of the seduction theory makes much of Eckstein's role, linking Freud's "abandonment" of her position with respect to the Fliess surgery to his "abandonment" of her evidence for the paternal etiology of neurosis: for 'the idea – which even Masson concedes is crazy – that...all neurotic patients had been sexually abused'.[21]

Since I am quoted here, it would be good if somebody could change this so that it is grammatically sound. AND they could reflect my views, as found in my book (which is cited several times in this article, The Assault on Truth: Freud's Abandonment of the Seduction Theory) that neurosis often finds its source in childhood abuse, although not always.

My suggestion would be (but anyone can see what I have written and make the appropriate changes) as follows:

Jeffrey Masson in his book The Assault on Truth: Freud's Abandonment of the Seduction Theory, makes much of Eckstein's role. He believes that Freud was heavily influenced by Emma Eckstein (who actually was the first person to practice psychoanalysis after Freud, under his supervision), and the fact that she reported sexual abuse memories in her patients encouraged Freud to believe he had been correct to think of sexual abuse as playing a major role in the origin of neurosis. For a time he (and presumably Emma Eckstein as well) believed that all neurotic patients had been sexually abused. This is almost certainly not the case, but the role of sexual abuse (and other forms of childhood trauma) in most cases of adult happiness cannot be denied. Masson believes that the disastrous operation on Emma Eckstein by Fliess discouraged Freud from continuing to work and learn from her. Her role in the creation of psychoanalysis has never been properly acknowledged.

Jeffrey Masson (talk)