Why Freud abandoned his seduction theory? – Matters of Truth, Healing, and Countertransference
Ferenczi began to believe more and more strongly that the source of neurosis lay in sexual seductions suffered by children at the hands of those closest to them. This culminated in a paper, “Confusion of Tongues,”….that was, in many respects, the twin to Freud’s “The Aetiology of Hysteria." (p120 "Assault on Truth: Freud’s Suppression of the Seduction Theory" by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson) Not just that, Ferenczi arrived to the same conclusion as Freud’s earliest thoughts: For example, he maintained (July 24, 1932) that the Oedipus complex could well be "the result of real acts on the part of adults, namely violent passions directed toward the child, who then develops a fixation, not from desire [as Freud maintained], but from fear. 'My mother and father will kill me if I don’t love them, and identify with their wishes.' " Ferenczi never dared show this diary to Freud. (p121 "Assault on Truth: Freud’s Suppression of the Seduction Theory" by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson)