So Freud gets it in the neck again, this time from Frederick Crews in The Making of an Illusion which collates all his misdemeanors in one go: his drug addiction, womanising, cheating and plagiarising – to name just a few. But I have no doubt that Freud’s grip on our cultural mind will survive yet another attack. His powerful ideas, however immorally or intellectually flawed were ground-breaking, and enduringly important ones: from highlighting the importance of early childhood on our adult inner worlds, to accepting that we are up against the forces of life and our human nature. He also set the foundations for the value of talking therapy generally. We now know that these can really help mental distress, rather or alongside the medical inclination to treat it with drugs. His couch, available for viewing his house in Hampstead may not be everyone’s choice of place to talk through vulnerabilities, but the sanctity of the therapy room it sits in is more likely to be – and for this, I’ll forgive some of his flaws.