• Breathing Exercise
• Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Comments on Szasz' Myth of Mental Illness
• Definition: Child Sexual Abuse
• Definition: Emotional Abuse
• Definition: Physical Abuse
• Definition: Professional Abuse
• Definition: Sexual Assault
• Definition: Spiritual Abuse
• Definition: Spousal Abuse
• Dissociation
• Finding Support
• Finding a Therapist
• Freud's "Etiology of Hysteria" and Present Research on Child Sexual Abuse
• Incest and Adult Sexual Functioning
• Incest: Family Profiles and Profiles and Psychological Implications
• Leaving Jehovah's Witnesses - Personal Experience
• Memory
• Mind Control Techniques and Jehovah's Witnesses
• Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD): Multiple Selves and Structural Interactionism
• Needs Assessment for Adult Survivors of Incest (Montreal, Canada)
• Physical Child Abuse: Self Perceptions -- Research
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: Criteria
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Symptoms
• Psychic Out-of-Body Experiences and Traumatic Out-of-Body Experiences in Childhood: Similarities and Differences
• Relationships
• Relaxation Exercise
• Self-Reflection
• Social Death: The Practice of  Disfellowshipping Among Jehovah's Witnesses
• Suggested Book List
• The Issue of Consent
  
• Til Death Do Us Part
  
• Traumatic Child Sexual Abuse, Psychological  Death and the Reduction in the Belief in the Power of God
• Traumatic Memory
  
• Virginia Woolf: Incest and its Effects on her Life

Present research on the long term effects of child sexual abuse confirms Freud's seduction theory as presented in The Etiology of Hysteria. The theory accurately describes the effects of infantile seduction and the role of repression as a defense mechanism. This study compares the findings presented in Freud's theory to current research on child sexual abuse. Therapists can provide appropriate treatment to adult survivors of child sexual abuse if they recognize the symptoms and understand the role of defense mechanisms.

On April 21, 1896, Sigmund Freud presented a paper titled Aetiology of Hysteria in which he theorized that hysteria in adults was caused by infantile seduction. Freud proposed the seduction theory after listening to all eighteen of his hysterical patients disclose childhood experiences of unwanted sexual contact (Masson, 1984). As a result of treating these patients, Freud was able to make links between infantile sexual abuse, defense mechanisms (such as amnesia), and hysteria.

Freud theorized that many young children were the victims of traumatic sexual seductions. Unable to process these sexual experiences, the young child often repressed the memory; a defense mechanism. Even though the subconscious memory was not accessible to the adult patient, the long term effects of the trauma were manifested as hysterical symptoms. Freud hypothesized that it was possible for the traumatic episodes in childhood to be responsible for many of the obsessions and neuroses found in his adult patients (Masson, 1984).

Masson suggests that Freud gave up the seduction theory because his peers refused to acknowledge him (Masson, 1984). Recent research on the long-term effects of child sexual abuse confirm Freud's original beliefs (Finkelhor, 1986; Gil, 1988). A comparison of Freud's theory, as he presented it in The Etiology of Hysteria, to recent research shows that the seduction theory accurately explained the etiology and defense mechanisms of hysteria in Freud's patients.

Dimensions of sexual seduction/abuse
Freud stated that of his 18 adult cases of hysteria, 100% had been sexually abused as children. He theorized that at the source of every case of hysteria was one or more experiences of infantile seduction. Freud hypothesized that infantile seduction occurred more frequently than most people believed (Masson, 1984). Present research has found that over 50% of women experience some form of unwanted sexual contact before the age of 18 (Committee on Sexual Offenses Against Children and Youths, 1984; Russell, 1986). Gil (1988) found that 40% of her subjects had been sexually abused before they were five years old.

Similar types of sexual contact were found by Freud and current researchers. Freud's patients disclosed experiences of genital contact, actual or simulated intercourse, and both oral and anal sex (Masson, 1984). These same acts are still perpetrated on young children by their adult abusers (Committee on Sexual Offenses Against Children and Youths, 1984; Finkelhor, 1986; Russell, 1986).

Present researchers confirm Freud's original belief that most frequently an abuser was someone the child knew and trusted (Finkelhor, 1986; Herman, 1981; Masson, 1984; Sgroi, 1987).

Hysterical symptoms and the long term effects of child sexual abuse
Freud discovered the need to recognize the defense mechanisms involved in repressed traumatic memories and to uncover the source of hysterical symptoms (Masson, 1984). As shown in Table 1, current researchers have found that survivors of child sexual abuse exhibit symptoms and use defense mechanisms similar to those used by Freud's patients.

Many researchers and therapists recognize that amnesia is common among survivors of child sexual abuse (Blake-White & Kline, 1985; Braun, 1986; Coons, 1986; Courtois, 1988). Some adults have full or partial loss of memory of their childhoods. Therapy requires helping the survivor to recall the past and to understand and process the traumatic memories (Courtois, 1988; Gil, 1988).

As memories return, survivors frequently state that the memories seem unreal (Masson, 1984; Gil, 1988). It is common for survivors to separate their feelings from their thoughts, contributing to a sense of detachment (Blake-White & Kline, 1985; Donaldson & Gardner, 1985; Gil, 1988). Freud referred to these returning memories as hallucinations (Masson, 1984). The survivor experiences the past abuse as happening in the present (Courtois, 1988; Donaldson & Gardner, 1985; Ellenson, 1986; Gil, 1988).

Studies have shown that many survivors experience flat or inappropriate affect (Masson, 1984; Blake-White & Kline, 1985; Gil, 1988; Rosenthal, 1988). Commonly, abused children are not permitted to express their feelings about their experience. Over 75% of the author's clients reported threatened or actual violence if they cried when abused as children. In order to protect themselves from further abuse, many of these children learned to either laugh or not to express any emotion during the abuse.

Most adult survivors experience anxiety or panic attacks (Courtois, 1988; Briere, 1984; Jehu, Gazan, & Klassen, 1985; Sedney & Brooks, 1984). Because the survivors do not remember the original traumas, they cannot make the cognitive link between the anxiety and the present situation. Freud found that the present situation rarely warranted the extreme reaction expressed by the adult. According to Freud, the anxiety attack could only be understood if the past trauma was taken into consideration (Masson, 1984).

Many adult survivors state that they are afraid of men and sexual intimacy. Freud knew that as young children these victims usually experienced traumatic abuse by a person who was powerful and whom they loved (Masson, 1984). Abuse from a person who was loved and trusted by the child would cause feelings of guilt, worthlessness, and a sense of helplessness which continued into adulthood (Bagley & Ramsey, in press; Ellenson, 1986; Gelinas, 1983; Jehu & Gazan, 1983). These feelings, in turn, contribute to depression and suicidal thoughts (Masson, 1984; Briere & Runtz, 1985; Finkelhor, 1986).

Freud hypothesized that many victims developed obsessions and neuroses as a result of the abuse they experienced (Masson, 1984). Recent findings show that victims of sexual abuse tend to develop an array of coping mechanisms to (a) protect themselves from further abuse, (b) develop a sense of self efficacy, or (c) escape negative feelings (Gelinas, 1983; Lindberg & Distad, 1985; Oppenheimer, Palmer, & Brandon, 1984).

As a result of victimization, many children never learn to protect themselves and are therefore re-victimized as adults. Freud was amazed to learn how many different abusers some patients had (Masson, 1984). Finkelhor, (1986) and others have also found a tendency for many child victims to have had more than one abuser and for abusive experiences to continue into adulthood (Becker, Skinner, Abel, Axelrod, & Cichon, 1984).

Finkelhor, (1984, 1986), found that most abusers were child victims. He explains that adult abusers may abuse a child to gain a feeling of control that was lost during their own victimization. Freud, too, found that some victimized boys re-enacted their abuse on other children (Masson, 1984).
Survivors frequently experience physical problems, such as genital pain, intestinal disturbances, vomiting and sensations of choking (Walker, Katon, Harrop-Griffiths, Holm, Russo, & Hickok, 1988). Gil (1988) found that her clients experienced stomach aches, pelvic inflammatory disease, bladder infections, cramps, sore throats, nausea and vomiting. Freud's patients had similar symptoms (Masson, 1984), which he theorized may have been the result of sexually transmitted diseases and stress.

Summary
Recent research does support Freud's seduction theory as presented in The Aetiology of Hysteria. In one study, Bliss (1980) reports the symptoms of 14 patients who have been diagnosed as either schizophrenics or hysterics. Bliss found significant differences in the number of symptoms expressed by hysterical patients and controls. The symptoms of Bliss' patients are remarkably similar to the symptoms found in Freud's patients.

Freud gave up the seduction theory in favor of the Oedipus complex theory. Until recently, therapists have failed to believe victims' reports of sexual seduction in their childhoods. Survivors are frequently told that their symptoms are the result of chemical imbalances or genetic deficiencies. The survivor's experience is often discounted or minimized by the therapist, making it difficult for the survivor to process the trauma. Complete case histories must be taken of patients whose symptoms parallel the long term effects of child sexual abuse. As Freud stated, it is only by recognizing the symptoms and defense mechanisms of infantile seduction that a therapist can provide appropriate treatment to the survivor.

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Table 1
Symptoms exhibited by Freud's patients and current research on the long term effects of child sexual abuse