Mark Solms is a neuroscientist and psychoanalyst fluent in German, which is why in the 1990s, he agreed to take on the daunting task of collating and translating Freud's 23 years of writing on the brain and neurology pre-psychoanalysis. In this episode Marks talks in detail about Freud's early work in neuroscience, and explains how this transitioned into his theories of the mind and how to help the mentally troubled. After discussing something of his own family life, we move on to his very difficult first case as an analyst and from that to an understanding of why psychoanalysis became so prone to squabbling and factions. We discuss the way Freud's notion of the unconscious and preconscious map onto current understanding of memory - short term/long term, declarative/non-declarative ('declarative' being memories that can be put into words, a function, interestingly, that gradually develops after the age of 2; 'non-declarative' that can't be put into words, including those powerful early life experiences. Mark also talks about the things Freud got wrong before moving on to the conditions that can benefit from long term therapy (certain personality disorders and major depression in the context of early childhood loss and trauma) but emphasises that symptomatic treatments (antidepressants) may be necessary to enable a person to use therapy. We conclude with a question anout his title, and an entertaining answer!
Participants:
Mark Solms, Professor, Department of Neuropsychology, University of Capetown, SA. https://neuroscience.uct.ac.za/contacts/mark-solms
Ken Barrett, visual artist, writer and retired neuropsychiatrist: http://www.kenbarrettstudio.co.uk
Mark's books:
'The Only Cure': Freud and the neuroscience of mental healing. https://www.weidenfeldandnicolson.co.uk/titles/mark-solms-2/the-only-cure/9781399623377/
Also available as an audiobook, read by Mark, and incuded in Spotify Premium.
'The Hidden Spring': https://profilebooks.com/work/the-hidden-spring/
'The Neuropsychology of dreams: https://www.karnacbooks.com/product/the-neuropsychology-of-dreams-a-clinico-anatomical-study/94585/?
If you are interested in Freud and his contemporaries as portrayed at the movies (including Meynert and Jung) check out Season 2 episode 20, a great conversation with Prof Ian Christie:
Opening and closing music: Prelude to the opera Brainland, composed by Stephen Brown.
Brainland the opera website: www.brainlandtheopera.co.uk
Illustration 'Young Freud observed...' by KB.
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