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Freud announced his discovery of the Seduction Theory in a lecture to the Society for Psychiatry and Neurology of Vienna on April 21, 1896; his rejection of the theory seventeen months later is considered a landmark in the early history of psychoanalysis. Although it has been the subject of numerous interpretations (Balmary, 1979; Eis-sler, 1993; Garcia, 1987; Jones, 1953; Krull, 1979/1986 trans.; Kupfersmid, 1993; LaPlanche and Pontalis, trans.; Ler-man, 1986; Masson, 1984; McGrath, 1986; Miller, 1984; Robinson, 1993; Rush, 1980; Sulloway, 1979), the issue of Freud's rejection of the theory is far from resolved (Kupfersmid, 1993). In my opinion, we have not been able to satisfactorily explain Freud's abandonment of the theory because little attention has been given to the circumstances under which Freud claimed its discovery in the first place.
The fact that Freud's announcement of the Seduction Theory has been given little scrutiny likely reflects the fact that Freud's published writings were the source of the traditional account and the reason for its announcement appears self-evident. In the 1896 lecture, Freud claimed he had discovered that hysteria resulted from childhood seduction and that this finding was “a momentous scientific