Susan Freedman wrote 6 March: <<This reminds of the very first time I taught my own course. An excellent, admired, experienced teacher had suggested that I begin the intro class by discussing Freud - "because students seem to like Freud". During my very first lecture anywhere ever, one student interrupted, turned to the class and asked "Is this relevant to anyone's life"? She then proceded to announce that Freud had molested his clients. I was flabbergasted, and didn't handle the disruption very well, though it was a meaningful learning experience for me in several ways. I think that I managed to explain that everything in class might not necessarily be personally relevant, and suggest that we discuss it further during office hours. Prior to this outburst, I was NOT an expert on Freud, so I inquired about her source. Seems she'd had psych. in high school and that teacher had taught them this. I wish that I had simply asked her to bring the a copy of the reference to class, because it really undermined my credibility. Since that time, I've read everything I could find and cannot find any information to suggest that Freud himself had sex with patients.>>
No reputable (or even semi-reputable) source has ever suggested that Freud molested any of his patients, or otherwise physically mistreated them. I can only think that the student , and/or the high school teacher, had picked up a garbled account of Jeffrey Masson's extreme view of psychoanalysis, and of psychotherapy in general, as a form of abuse *in its widest sense*, ie, severely detrimental to patients or clients. In his book *Against Therapy* Masson also writes about psychotherapists who sexually and physically abused patients, but this has no connection with Freud. Allen Esterson London www.human-nature.com/esterson/index.html --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
