Death by Silence ( Totschweigen ) in Indian Psychoanalysis: Kakar, Masson, and Freud’s Abandonment of the Seduction Theory

In this paper, we examine the controversy surrounding Freudian theories, which the Indian psychoanalyst Sudhir Kakar was aware of, namely, the abandonment of the seduction theory and the construction of the Oedipus Complex. Jeffrey Masson, the disillusioned psychoanalyst, who was in communication with Kakar in the 1980s, called Freud’s abandonment of seduction theory “the assault on truth”. Both Kakar and Masson also wrote about India but from divergent viewpoints; Kakar adopted “a cultural interpretation” of the Oedipus Complex, while Masson claimed Freud “suppressed” the truth about sexual abuse and trauma in Viennese families. Both authors knew Kakar personally and professionally, worked with him over many years, and decided to examine this recent history, going back to the 1890s. We suggest that Masson developed a highly critical interpretation of Freud based on access to the Freud archives. John Ross, a friend of Kakar’s, similarly offered a critique of Freud from within psychoanalysis, calling it “the Laius Complex”, where the father sets in motion the intergenerational Oedipal rivalry. Kakar developed a cultural adaptationist view, “the maternal enthrallment theory,” where Freud’s abandonment of the seduction theory and the issues of child sexual abuse are completely avoided.