Synopses & Reviews
Often referred to as the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud championed the talking cure and charted the human unconscious. But though Freud compared himself to Copernicus and Darwin, his history as a physician is problematic. Historians have determined that Freud often misrepresented the course and outcome of his treatments--so that the facts would match his theories. Today Freud's legacy is in dispute, his commentators polarized into two camps: one of defenders; the other, fierce detractors.
Peter D. Kramer, himself a practicing psychiatrist and a leading national authority on mental health, offers a new take on this controversial figure, one both critical and sympathetic. He recognizes that although much of Freud's thought is now archaic, the discipline he invented has become an inescapable part of our culture, transforming the way we see ourselves. Freud was a myth-maker, a storyteller, a writer whose books will survive among the classics of our literature. The result of Kramer's inquiry is nothing less than a new standard history of Freud by a modern master of his thought.
Synopsis
A concise and seductive biography of the father of psychoanalysis is penned by a "New York Times" bestselling author and one of the top psychiatrists in practice today.
Synopsis
Referred to as "the father of psychoanalysis," Sigmund Freud is credited with championing the "talking cure" and charting the human unconscious. Both revered and reviled, he was a brilliant innovator but also a man of troubling contradictions—sometimes tyrannical, often misrepresenting the course and outcome of his treatments to make the "facts" match his theories. Peter D. Kramer—acclaimed author, practicing psychiatrist, and a leading national authority on mental health—offers a stunning new take on this controversial figure. Kramer is at once critical and sympathetic, presenting Freud the mythmaker, the storyteller, the writer whose books will survive among the classics of our literature, and the genius who transformed the way we see ourselves.
Synopsis
Part of the acclaimed Eminent Lives series, Freud is a concise and seductive biography of the father of psychiatry. Dr. Peter D. Kramer, the author of Listening to Prozac and Against Depression offers a critical and sympathetic portrait, recognizing what is archaic in Freuds work and also what endures, interpreting him as not only a pioneer, but as a writer whose work will survive among the classics of literature.
About the Author
Peter D. Kramer, M.D., "possibly the best-known psychiatrist in America" (New York Times), is the bestselling author of Listening to Prozac, Should You Leave?, Spectacular Happiness, Moments of Engagement, and Against Depression. He lives in Providence, Rhode Island, where he is a professor at Brown University and maintains a private practice.