ABSTRACT
Many people are afflicted by forms of psychological distress: anxiety, depression, phobias and other ailments. Psychoanalysis attempts to ease their pain through talking, hence its description as ‘the talking cure’. Patients are invited to freeassociate: that is, to say whatever comes into their heads however silly or embarrassing it may be. In so doing they relive the formative experiences of their lives and discover different and happier ways of dealing with them. It was initiated as a therapeutic technique by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) in Vienna at the end of the nineteenth century and was subsequently developed by a host of practitioners, most notably Jacques Lacan (1901-81). Since its inception its influence has extended far beyond clinical practice and has profoundly informed thinking in art, culture, philosophy, politics and society. After introducing the work of the pivotal figures of psychoanalytic theory, I will conclude by outlining the continuing debates around the value of psychoanalysis.
