Trauma relationship between reality and fantasy in incest Preferred
Mental illness theories and psychiatry have been a major topic to criticism including misinterpretations and interpretations of the subject. Sigmund Freud theories of psychoanalytic system has been under criticism and has received various interpretations and misinterpretations based on how Freud came up with the theories. Sigmund Freud had dominated the field of psychoanalysis in the eighteenth century and he formed the basis for different later variants. Freud had proclaimed different discoveries such as the infantile sexuality, the Oedipus complex and the wish fantasies. These are capricious constructions which he designed to enlighten the stories of his patients on perversion and incest while at the same time excusing the technique that provoked them. The focus of this paper is to evaluate this statement giving out appropriate theoretical evidence while using psychoanalytic concepts to formulate an argument to indicate my agreeing with this statement taking the lead with M Borch-Jacobsen thoughts on the issue.
According to M Borch-Jacobsen, exposing false claims of psychoanalysis such as those that Freud had formulated to explain his patients stories on perversion and incest is not enough. What is important is to know or creating the reality that it purports to portray. Freud theories and self proclaimed discoveries are to be criticized because he forced his patients to make wrong confessions that matched his expectations. Freud had refused to accept and trust the words of the patients instead chose to extort false confessions from them to match his own desires. Freud failed to acknowledge that he was doing a wrong thing even after realizing it (Borch-Jacobsen 122). He stuck to what he believed in and what he wanted to see thus ended up suggesting to his patients his own formed theories even if they did not firmly agree with him. This therefore means that Freud forcefully treated his patients who were experiencing trauma relationships such as incent.
Freud’s infantile reconstructions were mainly seduction scenes that actually did not take place in reality. Majority were fantasies which his patients had formulated or which he had forced them to confess. Nevertheless, Freud believed in his patient’s confessions of childhood and adolescence seduction memories (Cohen 107). He believed that the feelings were real and never doubted them despite the fact that he wanted their confessions to match his theories. One of his patients claimed that Freud had lost courage thus the reason why he denied the fact that incest had occurred. Freud’s theory of seduction which was infantile is a clear indication that his patient’s stories and memories of incest were real. All his life, Freud restated his belief concerning the incestuous attacks memories; he believed that all the memories were indeed real and not fantasies as he had claimed.
In his works titled The “Aetiology of Hysteria,” Freud exaggerated the importance or the frequency of seduction effects which labels a child as premature sexual object (Holt 145). Later on, Freud claimed that sexual abuse conducted to children is common and frequent among child attendants and school teachers but seduction is fantasy interests but also claimed that they might be real memories which should not be ignored but looked into properly. Freud had considered memories of incents given by his patients such as Elisabeth Von R, Wolf Man and Katharina to be realities claiming that such kinds of traumatic abuse on children should not be supposed or ignored (Appignanesi & Forrester 132). Freud claimed that he was once a victim of sexual abuse while he was a child; he claims of being forced by his nurse to perform sexually where he ended up being washed by her menstrual period. He however claimed that sexual abuse of children by their nearest male relative is more of fantasy than reality. Nevertheless, regardless of what Freud wrote concerning the psychoanalytic subject, all the clear evidence he gave out on sexual molestation he referred to them as seduction instead of fantasy.
Analysts have found that all the memories of seduction reported by Freud were purely unconscious wishes. However, his views on psychoanalytic literature on childhood seduction did exist. Cases of real rape of young minor girls, sexual abuse of young boys by mature women and enforced homosexual activities have been reported in real life. Majority of Freud’s patients gave out clear memories of their childhood seduction which Freud ignored to fulfill his wishes but the truth is that these things actually do happen in real life. Cases of real incest have been reported by patients whereby they describe how fathers have orgastically flagellated their own daughters, mothers have encouraged other men to rape their young children, how parents have forced their young children to touch their own genitals and cases of young children masturbating have also been reported. The reality is that fantasies have never and will never make a person sick; the only thing that can make a person sick by causing neurosis is traumatic memories or experiences (Cohen 119).
The main reason why Freud forced his patients to make wrong confessions that matched his expectations was because he wanted his model to be universally recognized. Freud invented the Oedipus complex theory based on his own experience. He claimed of constant attraction and love towards his mother and that he had developed strong jealousy towards the father because of this love (Appignanesi & Forrester 120). He considered this event universal childhood since it is a pattern that mainly develops in the mind of a person but does not occur in real life. This is one of the reasons why Freud believed that his patient’s memories were more of fantasies than reality. His explanation was that each stage of human life is a progression and as one develops into an adult; they become sexually mature characterized by their own strong ego and the capability to setback gratification. The main purpose of Oedipus complex was to explain how he believed that incest was something that people desired and it is a feeling that can be easily repressed. Freud described Oedipus complex as a condition of psychosexual awareness and development. He also believed that Oedipus was bisexual since he was attracted to both his parents thus the reason why he ended up marrying his biological mother though the attraction he had towards the father was more of fantasy than reality (Borch-Jacobsen 122).
Despite stating that psychoneurosis was as a result of early childhood abuse, Freud believed that his patient’s unconscious memories of childhood sexual abuse are what led to the development of precondition of adult psychoneuroses. Examination conducted by analysts on Freud’s theories revealed that all the clinical claims he made were not reports given by his patients but derived from his own analysis of clinical methodology which was done in coercive procedure. Freud had lost faith on one of his favorite friends named Fliess who was also doing the same research on incest. This is the reason why he was not able to come up with a successful conclusion on his research and theory. Freud’s notion was to interpret patient’s dreams and unconscious fantasies since that is what he believed they were; he viewed all the stories told by patients on their memories of childhood sexual abuse as fantasies and unconscious memories. Freud was forced to fight and resist contemporary prejudices while he was conducting and assessing his discoveries on childhood sexual abuse due to his sexual content of laws and concepts he believed in especially veridical contents of the memories (Borch-Jacobsen 108). Trauma or mental illness change with time and from different places reappearing and disappearing and sometimes it undergo mutations. Patients should however give out correct and appropriate information regarding their trauma to help avoid the confusion of whether their memories are fantasies or reality.
In conclusion, many people react differently to expectations and ideas concerning psychiatric and psychological theories based on the realities they describe and believe in. Freud theories of psychoanalytic system have been under criticism and have received different interpretations and misinterpretations as a result of how he came up with the theories. M Borch-Jacobsen claimed that Freud’s self proclaimed theories such as infantile sexuality, the Oedipus complex and the wish fantasies are capricious constructions which he designed to enlighten the stories of his patients on perversion and incest while at the same time excusing the technique that provoked them. This statement is indeed true because Freud forced his patients to make wrong confessions to satisfy his own personal desires. Freud did not believe on the stories and the memories of the patients thus the reason why he viewed and termed them as unconscious memories. Freud believed that trauma relationships of incent were more of fantasies than reality.
Works Cited
Appignanesi, Lisa & Forrester, John. Freud’s Women. New York: Penguin Books, 2000. Print.
Borch-Jacobsen, ikkel. Making Minds and Madness: From Hysteria to Depression. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Print.
Cohen, David. The assault on truth: Freud’s suppression of the seduction theory. New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2000. Print.
Holt, Robert. Freud Reappraised: A Fresh Look At Psychoanalytic Theory. London: The Guilford Press, 1989. Print.
