Freud's Early Views on Masturbation and the Actual Neuroses

This paper examines a comparatively minor, yet important, aspect of early psychoanalytic thought. Specifically, a critical analysis of Freud's early views on the actual neuroses will be undertaken; subsidiarily, Freud's early views on masturbation in relation to the actual neuroses (and in their own right) will also be evaluated. The central thesis of this paper is that Freud's interpretation of the actual neuroses was critically influenced by the particular model of mind he held during the prepsy-choanalytic period, i.e., up until around 1897. His views on the actual neuroses, therefore, may be considered vestiges of an earlier paradigm, a paradigm which Freud ultimately rejected. It will also be maintained that aspects of Freud's early views on masturbation are amenable to a similar interpretation. For the purist, however, it will become apparent that Freud never entirely abandoned his early views on the actual neuroses and masturbation — nevertheless, an attempt will be made to demonstrate that his views on these topics are peculiar in light of the general theoretical direction in which he moved and that a critical analysis of these views will contribute to an understanding of an early phase in psychoanalytic history.*