Chapter 3. History of Dissociation (2) From Hysteria to Dissociation (4)

So much for technological development of the treatment for hysteria. A serious problem involved here is that under the guise of therapeutic intervention, massage or vibrator were applied to the genital area of women who were deemed to have hysteria, which could have meant a serious sexual violation for at least some of them. The risk seems obvious if we imagine a young woman who is diagnosed with hysteria and an order is given for sexual massage for its treatment before she is prepared for it. Traditional theory of hysteria not only allowed for sexual discrimination against women, but it actually increased a risk for sexual trauma for them.
Freud’s theories have been criticized for its heavy sexual bias, but they are better understood if we take into consideration the social background against which Freud’s theories are formed. Dora’s case, for example, has been a target of criticism as Freud stressed too much on Dora’s repressed sexual desire toward Herr K as a cause of her various somatic symptoms. However, it was simply an exemplification of sexual theory of hysteria which had survived for such a long time, that Freud unknowingly might have based his theories on.
From now on we take a look at Jean-Martin Charcot’s work. It is necessary for us to understand his work in order to grasp better the nature of the conflict between Freud and Janet. In a sense their conflict grew into the major discrepancy between psychoanalytic theory and dissociative theory, although that controversy added more variety and depth to the history of psychology.