The Only Cure

This is an extraordinary book on so many different levels. It’s a dramatic history of psychoanalysis, a reassessment of Freud, a fascinating and moving autobiography, and a compelling argument for rethinking the place of feelings and subjectivity within the framework of science. And hence it’s also about caring, and nurture - and love. How minds change is the question at the centre of this book. It’s changing mine – BRIAN ENO, producer, composer and artistA scholarly masterpiece, written by the world’s greatest living authority on Freud - the Editor of the Revised Standard Edition, and founder of the Neuropsychoanalysis movement. The origin story of Freudian ideas is introduced in forensic and fascinating detail and developed carefully in light of - evidence-based - 21st-century insights into mind and brain. It is also a deeply personal narrative, reflecting the author’s good citizenship, clinical compassion and capacity to critique the fundamentals of psychoanalysis. There is so much to be learned in these pages – KARL J. FRISTON, the world’s most cited neuroscientistBecause of the author’s unusual combination of expertise, The Only Cure provides many insights that are unique. The case descriptions are interesting and engaging. The science behind them is vast. It’s an awesome book - a must-read for anyone involved in or interested in mental health – CRISTINA ALBERINI, Professor of Neuroscience at NYU, who demonstrated how early life experiences affect brain developmentSolms shows how Freud’s deepest insights are being vindicated by modern brain science. Bridging neuroscience and psychotherapy, he argues that psychoanalysis remains the only truly curative treatment for many mental disorders. Really an inspiring read – VITTORIO GALLESE, co-discoverer of the mirror neuronSolms appears to have literally brought Freud back to life in this page-turner of a book … A must-read for every beginning and senior psychiatrist, psychopharmacologist, neurologist, psychologist, therapist, and psychoanalyst – DANIEL W. PREZANT, President of the American Psychoanalytic AssociationAnyone paying close attention to the field of psychoanalysis will be aware of the breathtakingly revolutionary contributions of Mark Solms. Moving deftly between personal narrative and psychoanalytic and neuroscientific knowledge, The Only Cure makes these groundbreaking discoveries accessible while also placing them in a historical context. An impressive feat – NUAR ALSADIR, author of Animal Joy and featured psychoanalyst on Showtime’s Couples TherapyProvides nothing less than an empirical basis for the reenchantment of psychology - upending decades of scientific reductionism and returning human emotion to where it should always have been: at the very heart of the matter. It has the rare quality of being both an act of scholarship and an act of love – KEIRAN GODDARD, author of I See Buildings Fall Like LightningSolms’s arguments feel intensely personal, and are born of both essential human compassion and a lifetime’s work. The result is a deeply thought-provoking book, written with the kind of care he advocates for his patients – SOPHIE ELMHIRST, author of Maurice and MaralynSigmund Freud invented psychotherapy, a treatment that now has global reach, but why and how does the talking cure work? Mark Solms mingles the poignant, fascinating, sometimes harrowing stories of his psychoanalytic patients, as well as stories from his own life, with scientific research, past and present, which together illuminate Freud’s original insights into the workings of brain and mind. Lucid, confiding, incisive, erudite, and often funny, Solms is the perfect guide for any reader curious about what it means to heal the ailing self – SIRI HUSTVEDT, author of What I LovedWhat begins as a rehabilitation of Freud from the perspective of neuroscience becomes a quietly radical statement of the need both to give and to receive care. It’s that rare thing: a book that’s actually necessary – JESSIE GREENGRASS, author, The High HouseA fascinating psychoanalytical and neuroscientific journey … Solms deserves great thanks for this clinically and theoretically profound positioning of psychoanalysis in the canon of contemporary science – HERIBERT BLASS, former president of the International Psychoanalytical AssociationA brave book, that explains the complex dance between what we’re aware of and all the things that move below consciousness. It describes the choreography both from inside the mind, with the language of psychoanalysis, and also from the outside, in the language of neuroscience. Solms draws us wonderfully into this heady swirl – WILLIAM KENTRIDGE, artist and director of the animated film series, Drawings for ProjectionOffers a candidly argued defense of a regrettably overlooked idea: that in dealing with the universe of the human mind, sane and well as sick, a subjective perspective is indispensable. But Solms quietly achieves something no less important: he reminds us that Freud was a biologist and, wonder of wonders, that his ideas are part of the foundation of neuroscience – ANTONIO DAMASIO, author of Descartes’ ErrorMark Solms brings his magisterial mind to Freud and those who followed in the quest to understand us human subjects. What Freud was arguing in the late 19th century is now the preoccupation of much neuroscience, albeit, often unacknowledged. Great thinkers need great explicators and Solms does an excellent job of linking developments in neuroscience, philosophy and psychoanalysis enabling us to more deeply understand human subjectivity. It is a great achievement – SUSIE ORBACH, author of In TherapyA tour de force, that weaves philosophical, scientific, and personal history into a powerful case for the value of Sigmund Freud’s seminal scientific and clinical work for modern neuroscience and psychiatric care. Moving through and beyond anti-psychoanalytic Freud-bashing rhetoric, Solms offers an astonishing account of relevant brain science that exposes the limits of psychopharmacology and points toward a research methodology and mental health approach that incorporates subjectivity. A clinical case bookends the work and demonstrates the enduring truth that the only cure for mental suffering is the one that discovers and addresses its subjective causes – HARRIET WOLFE, president of the International Psychoanalytical Association

Mark Solms discovered the brain mechanisms of dreaming, transforming our understanding of the sleeping mind. A world-leading pioneer in neuropsychoanalysis, he has spent decades bridging Freudian theory and cutting-edge neuroscience. His acclaimed book The Hidden Spring (2021) established him as one of the most important voices in contemporary psychology. As translator of The Revised Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud (2024) and science director of the American Psychoanalytic Association, he is the foremost authority on psychoanalytic science today.