Chapter 3. History of Dissociation (2) From Hysteria to Dissociation (17)

To be fair with Freud, his trauma theory evolved further in his later works. It was after he saw many traumatized soldiers in the World War I that he recognized the real significance of the issue of trauma. In his earlier version of trauma theory (seduction theory), Freud’s main concern was libidinal excitation and its impact on the psyche. However, in his later career he renewed interest in trauma on its intrusive/destructive nature: trauma in a desexualized and more general sense.
Freud and Janet; their emotional conflict
As we saw above, Freud and Janet went so much apart in their trauma theory. Moreover, these two giants in the history of psychiatry did not like each other according to the historical resources. Was their theoretical distance what caused them to be more emotionally conflicted? Or was it because of their rivalry and animosity toward each other that their theoretical positions went further distant? Based on a record (The Freud-Janet Controversy: An Unpublished Letter. Med J. 1965 January 2; 1: 52–53.）perhaps both might hold true.
Freud never knew Janet and never met him in his stay in Paris in 1885～1886．Janet’s work was not published until 1889. In the same year he was invited to Salpetriere by Charcot and it was after that that Freud knew Janet’s works. Initially, Freud made very friendly comments on Janet. In is “Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis (Freud 1922, SE 16) Freud stated:
“It is true that Pierre Janet brought forward the same evidence independently; indeed，the French worker can claim priority ofpublication，for it was only a decade later (in 1893 and 1895)，while he was collaborating with me，that Breuer published his observation（Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis. SE. 16, p.257）”.
Freud made much of Janet’s statement that neurotic symptoms were the expression of unconscious ideas.
On the other hand, Janet harshly criticized Freud in the international congress in 1913 in London, regarding symbolic meaning of dream and sexual nature of neurosis (Brown, van der Hart, 1998). In 1925, Janet even said that Freud plagiarized Janet, stating that his idea of “psychological analysis” was tuned into Freud’s “psychoanalysis”, “restriction of consciousness” into “repression.” Janet also insisted that the doctrines of psycho-analysis "originated out of the studies made by French investigators concerning traumatic memories."(Janet, P:Psychological Healing, 1925, 1 14. Allen & Unwin, London.)
Later in 1938, a year before Freud’s death, Janet’s son-in-low Edward Pichon provided an occasion for them to see each other, but it was Freud who declined to see Janet. (Sommers-Flanagan, J and R (2004) Counseling And Psychotherapy. Theories in Context And Practice: kills, Strategies, And Techniques. Wiley)
How could we understand the conflict between Freud and Janet that occurred a century ago? It might be true that they had some misunderstanding based on their competitiveness and rivalry, but behind them were two very different approaches to human mind, especially regarding how to understand the trauma and the mechanism of dissociation.
(the end of Chapter 3.)