menu Home chevron_right
NEWS & CULTURE

Freud was more right than you think | The Gray Area

Vox | August 19, 2026



Sigmund Freud is probably the most famous psychoanalyst. Yet many of his theories have been critiqued or discredited. So is there anything we can still learn from the father of psychoanalysis?

Subscribe to our channel! http://goo.gl/0bsAjO

In today’s episode Sean speaks with professor Mark Solms, author of The Only Cure: Freud and the Neuroscience of Mental Healing. Mark argues that while Freud may have been wrong about many things, he was right about one important thing: the human mind cannot be fully understood on purely biological terms. He believes that modern psychiatry has become focused on treating mental suffering like a chemical problem, instead of focusing on emotional and psychological aspects.

Sean and Mark discuss the conscious versus the unconscious mind, whether psychoanalysis is the best therapy, and why Freud is still relevant today.

00:00 Intro
03:14 Was Freud a scientist?
09:23 The conscious vs the unconscious mind
16:35 The limits of science
27:34 Is psychoanalysis still the best therapy?
38:28 Why it’s so hard to change our behaviour
46:22 The human element in therapy

Host: Sean Illing (@SeanIlling)
Guest: Mark Solms, neuropsychologist, psychoanalyst, and professor at the University of Cape Town. Author of The Only Cure: Freud and the Neuroscience of Mental Healing.

We would love to hear from you. To tell us what you thought of this episode, email us at thegrayarea@vox.com or leave us a voicemail at 1-800-214-5749. Your comments and questions help us make a better show.

And you can watch new episodes of The Gray Area on YouTube.

Listen to The Gray Area ad-free by becoming a Vox Member: vox.com/members

Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what’s really driving the events in the headlines. Check out http://www.vox.com.

Watch our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/IZONyE
Follow Vox on Facebook: http://goo.gl/U2g06o
Or Twitter: http://goo.gl/XFrZ5H

Written by Vox

Comments

This post currently has 37 comments.

  1. @krysalia

    August 19, 2026 at 9:33 pm

    are you in your right mind ? even just the title is a shame and it doesn't stop there apparently. => unfollow, 👎and "do not recommend the channel". good riddance.

  2. @Mardox2626

    August 19, 2026 at 9:33 pm

    I find Freud hate funny. Of course he has had a lot of shortcomings but he opened up the modern psychiatry/psychology. We are not doing Hippocratic era medicine or surgeries now but we dont reject him.

  3. @MrDJ2105

    August 19, 2026 at 9:33 pm

    Freud lied to protect rich men from getting ostracized for assaulting their daughters. Alot of his clients were young wealthy women who got send there by their fathers for "hysteria" when it actually was unresolved trauma from getting sexually assaulting in their developing years. He changed their common trauma to "not being able to control their urges" or "hysteria" to protect his benefactors.

  4. @marxie1999

    August 19, 2026 at 9:33 pm

    “Airbrushed out” of the history of psychology is a very apt description. Psychoanalysis and its offshoots are consistently dismissed based upon standards which other psychological valances aren’t subjected to and couldn’t meet even if they were

    The insurance discussion near the end of the conversation is crucial! If insurance companies only provide coverage for “evidence based” approaches, it creates a vicious cycle of underfunding and under-studying what hasn’t already been studied.

    The issue is very similar in the case of ABA therapy; in our current system (speaking from the POV of a US resident), it is impossible to move on from/ban it. Since ABA therapy is covered by insurance, providers will label all sorts of therapeutic practices, ranging from very harmful to very helpful, as ABA or ABA-derived treatments. Because other approaches are lumped under the ABA umbrella, it’s very difficult to conduct research on these approaches individually. Lack of research means no data and no evidence to leverage in favor of insurance companies recognizing and providing coverage for other approaches

  5. @mariac7394

    August 19, 2026 at 9:33 pm

    Talk therapy cannot replace pharmacological therapy, and neither can prayer. There are people with real medical and biological disorders that require medication. It is dangerous to tell people they can talk themselves out of depression or psychosis. Even anxiety can be caused by hormonal issues.

  6. @jordansmith3809

    August 19, 2026 at 9:33 pm

    could've given a more antagonistic interview. I agree with pretty much everything he said but I am stuck feeling like I haven't had to hear any of it defended. If I want to watch him speak about things by himself ill go read the books this is meant to be an interview, u basically quote his book to him and go "what do you think?" constnatly isa ashame.

  7. @joaoguardinii

    August 19, 2026 at 9:33 pm

    17:57 Behaviorism claims subjetivity and the mind can be understood through the same rules as any natural phenomena. That is not the same as denying it exists, neither is ignoring it. Common misconception unfortunately

  8. @te333

    August 19, 2026 at 9:33 pm

    I don't know where this concept came from, that "you can get a psychology degree without even knowing Freud". But I have observed it happening.
    I read a book on dissociation a few years ago, which was published in 2005 by two Boston University gentleman (I don't remember their names, sorry), and 60-70% of their books data was based on Freud, and not once in their book had they mentioned his name.
    I don't think Freud was correct. But he was the closest we have ever been to "correct". There are things even the biggest of Freudian disagree about, that they'll accept he was wrong about.
    But let me tell you, I would not want to treat someone in a Freudian way if they come seeking help. But I will have to. Not because it's the best way. But because it's the best possible way right now.
    And, psychoanalysis!
    Having been someone who has been in a psychology circle for over a decade, I can tell you, that some Therapists out there are "Crazier" (sorry for using that word) than the patients themselves – Most of the therapists actually.
    Thanks for the video. 😊

  9. @ruffpace

    August 19, 2026 at 9:33 pm

    The problem with the materialistic view of psychology, i.e. lack of serotonin in brain, solution SSRI medication, is that it's too reductive and only treats the symptoms. If I buy this perspective, why should I not do meth all day and heroin all night to maximize my feelings of well being?

  10. @SoufyAsth

    August 19, 2026 at 9:33 pm

    Thank you. Psychoanalytical theories are far from perfect and deserve their fair share of criticism. But Freud is the start of it not the final result. There are many researchers such as myself who continue his legacy to correct, improve or disprove his theories and discover some more. I’m happy to have published my third scientific article at the Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic studies and will pursue further research in this field.

Leave a Reply





This area can contain widgets, menus, shortcodes and custom content. You can manage it from the Customizer, in the Second layer section.

 

 

 

  • play_circle_filled

    92.9 : The Torch

  • play_circle_filled

    AGGRO
    'Til Deaf Do Us Part...

  • play_circle_filled

    SLACK!
    The Music That Made Gen-X

  • play_circle_filled

    KUDZU
    The Northwoods' Alt-Country & Americana

  • play_circle_filled

    BOOZHOO
    Indigenous Radio

  • play_circle_filled

    THE FLOW
    The Northwoods' Hip Hop and R&B

play_arrow skip_previous skip_next volume_down
playlist_play