Jeffrey Masson

While perusing this material, Masson concluded that Freud might have rejected the seduction theory in order to advance the cause of psychoanalysis and to maintain his own place within the psychoanalytic inner circle, after a hostile response from the renowned sex-pathologist Richard von Krafft-Ebing and the rest of the Vienna Psychiatric Society in 1896 — "an icy reception from the jackasses," was the way Freud described it later to Fliess.

During the 1940s and 1950s, Brunton often lived with them, eventually designating Masson as his heir apparent.

Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson (born March 28, 1941 as Jeffrey Lloyd Masson) is an American author.

Masson is best known for his conclusions about Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis.

In 1956, Diana and Jacques Masson moved to Uruguay because Brunton believed that a third world war was imminent.

Jeffrey and his sister Linda followed in 1959.

At Brunton's urging, Masson went to Harvard University to study Sanskrit.

While at Harvard, Masson became disillusioned with Brunton.

Brunton and his influence on the Masson family form the subject of Masson's autobiographical book My Father's Guru: A Journey Through Spirituality and Disillusion.

Harvard University granted Masson a B.A. in 1964 and a PhD with Honors in 1970.

His degrees were in Sanskrit and Indian Studies.

While undertaking his PhD, Masson also studied, supported by fellowships, at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, the University of Calcutta, and the University of Poona.

Masson taught Sanskrit and Indian Studies at the University of Toronto, 1969–80, reaching the rank of Professor.

He has also held short term appointments at Brown University, the University of California, and the University of Michigan.

In 1970, Masson began studying to become a psychoanalyst at the Toronto Psychoanalytic Institute, completing a full clinical training course in 1978.

His training analyst was Irvine Schiffer, a well-known Toronto analyst and author of books on the unconscious aspects of charisma and time.

In 1980 Masson was appointed Projects Director of the Freud Archives, with full access to Freud's correspondence and other unpublished papers.

From 1981 to 1992, he was a Research Associate, Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies, at the University of California, Berkeley.

He is currently an Honorary Fellow in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Auckland in New Zealand.

In 1981, Masson's controversial conclusions were discussed in a series of New York Times articles by Ralph Blumenthal, to the dismay of the psychoanalytic establishment.

Masson was subsequently dismissed from his position as project director of the Freud Archives and stripped of his membership in psychoanalytic professional societies.

Masson was defended by Alice Miller

and Muriel Gardiner ("While striving not to take sides," Gardiner said, "I consider him a good and energetic worker and a worthwhile scholar").

Masson later wrote several books critical of psychoanalysis, including The Assault on Truth: Freud's Suppression of the Seduction Theory.

In the introduction to The Assault on Truth, Masson challenged his critics to address his arguments: "My pessimistic conclusions may possibly be wrong. The documents may in fact allow a very different reading."

Janet Malcolm interviewed Masson at length when writing her long New Yorker article on this controversy, which she later expanded into In the Freud Archives, a book that also dealt with Eissler and with Peter Swales.

In his The Assault on Truth (1984), Masson argues that Freud may have abandoned his seduction theory because he feared that granting the truth of his female patients' claims (that they had been sexually abused) would hinder the acceptance of his psychoanalytic methods.

Masson is a veganism advocate and has written about animal rights.

Jeffrey Masson is the son of Jacques Masson, a Frenchman of Bukharian Jewish ancestry, and Diana (Dina) Zeiger from an Ashkenazi strict Orthodox Jewish family.

Both of his parents were followers of the guru Paul Brunton.

Masson's mother later became a follower of mystic and philosopher John Levy.

In 1984 Masson sued The New Yorker, Janet Malcolm and the publisher Alfred A. Knopf for defamation, claiming that Malcolm had misquoted him.

The ensuing trial drew considerable attention.

The U.S. district court ruled against Masson.

In 1989 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco upheld the lower court's decision.

In 1990 Masson published an autobiographical book in which he accused Schiffer of cursing, being constantly late for sessions, and intimidating Masson when the latter complained about this issue.

Schiffer denied it and debated Masson on the Canadian television program The Fifth Estate.

During this time, Masson befriended the psychoanalyst Kurt Eissler and became acquainted with Sigmund Freud's daughter Anna Freud.

Eissler designated Masson to succeed him as Director of the Sigmund Freud Archives after his and Anna Freud's deaths.

Masson learned German and studied the history of psychoanalysis.