Genius of the modern world. Freud.

This is the last of a three-part series ‘Genius of the Modern World’ and this episode follows the life of Sigmund Freud. Beginning with his birth in Moravia and move to Vienna, presenter Bettany Hughes describes his family life and academic success. With Freud scholar Michael Molnar, Hughes looks at his relationship with Martha Bernays and the financial strain of their engagement. Hughes travels to Pitié-Salpêtrière in Paris, the hospital which fostered Freud’s interest in neurology and brought him into contact with women suffering from ‘hysteria’. Lisa Appignanesi then explains the work of Jean-Martin Charcot and his influence on Freud. Hughes returns to Vienna and discusses Freud’s work with Josef Breuer and the development of his iconic analytical technique. She then explores his friendship with Wilhelm Fliess and the formation of the ‘Seduction Theory’, which Freud later abandoned. Following his father’s death he began to self-analyse, and Professor Dany Nobus explains how this led to ‘The Interpretation of Dreams’. Hughes then talks about the creation of Freud’s ‘Oedipus Complex’ and his belief that it was a universal part of early childhood. Professor Janet Sayers explains the importance of Freud’s patient Dora to his research, then we return to Professor Nobus who talks about the ‘Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality’. Hughes recounts Freud’s collaboration with Carl Jung and subsequent falling out, and how the prevalence of shellshock in WWI helped popularise psychoanalysis. The war had a major effect on Freud’s personal life, but the post-war generation were more receptive to his ideas, such as the ‘death drive’, ‘super ego’, and ‘id’. Simone Faxa of the Freud Museum in Vienna explains how Freud was forced to escape Vienna following the rise of Adolf Hitler and settle in London at the age of 82. As a result of a lifetime of cigar smoking Freud had developed jaw cancer, and asked to be given a fatal dose of morphine in 1939. Prof. A. C. Grayling and Hughes discuss how Freud’s ground-breaking ideas and innovative techniques have had a lasting effect on both the study of psychoanalysis and greater Western culture.