The Only Cure

'Wide-ranging and engrossing . . . Wonderfully witty and lucid' Raymond Tallis, GUARDIAN

'Refreshing . . . Solms makes his case interestingly, sincerely and with passion' SUNDAY TIMES

'Extraordinary on so many levels' BRIAN ENO

'Brilliant, determined, scrupulous, tactful' OLIVER SACKS

Once dismissed as unscientific, psychoanalytic therapy is proving to be among our most effective medical treatments of any kind - outperforming psychiatric drugs and rivalling vaccines in its power to prevent and heal. Why does it work so well?

Perhaps because one of the most controversial figures in psychology was right all along. Neuroscience now confirms much of what Sigmund Freud conjectured over a century ago: our deepest struggles stem not from chemical imbalances, but from buried memories and unconscious conflicts that no pill can touch.

Using enthralling case studies and cutting-edge brain science, pioneering neuroscientist Mark Solms makes the case that psychoanalysis should resume its position as our master theory of the mind. Yet modern research also reveals where Freud got important things wrong. Could correcting these errors make therapy even more effective?

As psychiatric diagnoses soar and standard treatments continue to fail many patients, The Only Cure offers a revolutionary hope: a real science of healing, rooted in the radical idea that our suffering arises from truths we haven't yet faced.

'Breathtakingly revolutionary' NUAR ALSADIR

'A deeply thought-provoking book, written with the kind of care he advocates for his patients' SOPHIE ELMHIRST

'Has the rare quality of being both an act of scholarship and an act of love' KEIRAN GODDARD

'Lucid, confiding, incisive, erudite, and often funny, Solms is the perfect guide' SIRI HUSTVEDT

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.