Winning the Outsourcing Game

Sigmund Freud has had an incalculable effect on Western thought over the past century. From popular understanding of concepts like the Oedipus complex and Freudian slips to academic theorising over the nature of infantile sexuality and the power of the subconscious, his influence over our society is still paramount. But such a wealth of legend has grown up around his life and theories that an accessible introduction to the great psychoanalyst is much to be welcomed. Richard Webster's short book is part of the excellent Great Philosophers series, which aims to introduce the layman to the work of famous thinkers in concise and readable prose. Webster certainly writes well, nipping through Freud's intellectual career at a rate of knots and describing his most important case studies along the way. It soon becomes clear, however, that he is uniformly hostile to Freud, seeing his conclusions as wildly inaccurate and often highly damaging, both to his patients (who were told in authoritative terms that their symptoms showed that their fathers had molested them, or that they were masturbating too much) and to the practice of psychoanalysis worldwide. Certainly, as reported by Webster, some of Freud's diagnoses were imaginative to say the least, and there are some painful stories here - such as the 14-year-old girl whose abdominal pains Freud diagnosed as the result of hysteria, until she died two months later of stomach cancer. It's impossible to argue with Webster's view that often Freud's conclusions were simply the result of the inadequacy of neurological science - symptoms that he breezily dismissed as 'hysterical' can now be traced to head injuries or diseases such as epilepsy in the patient concerned. But if Freud really was as foolish and negligent as Webster alleges, it's hard to see how his ideas achieved such dominance over the psychoanalytical profession, and the reader feels frustrated by Webster's brusque dismissal of the man. This is an excellent case for the prosecution; but to judge its worth we also need to hear the case for the defence. (Kirkus UK)