Freud Museum London: Psychoanalysis Podcasts

Victoria WalkerAuthor Anna Kavan’s critical and popular reception since her death in 1968 has been defined by a cult of personality fuelled by revelations about her psychiatric breakdown, heroin use and adoption of her own fictional character’s name. Victoria Walker unravels some of the accumulated mythology around this writer, and examines her complex association with, and interest in, early twentieth-century psychiatry and psychotherapy.As well as being treated in private asylums and nursing homes, Kavan underwent a short analysis at the Tavistock Clinic, experienced Ludwig Binswanger’s method of existential psychotherapy at the Bellevue Sanatorium, and had a close personal relationship with her longtime psychiatrist Karl Bluth. Kavan promoted a radical politics of madness, giving voice to the disenfranchised and marginalized psychiatric patient and presaging the anti-psychiatry movement.Dr Victoria Walker’s research focuses on twentieth-century women writers and fictional representations of psychiatric treatment. She wrote the introduction to the recent edition of Kavan’s 'I Am Lazarus'. She teaches at King’s College, London and administers the Anna Kavan Society.Part of a season of performances, talks, films and events accompanying the exhibition 'Mad, Bad and Sad: Women and the Mind Doctors', 10 October 2013 - 2 February 2014.

Victoria Walker Author Anna Kavan’s critical and popular reception since her death in 1968 has been defined by a cult of personality fuelled by revelations about her psychiatric breakdown, heroin use and adoption of her own fictional character’s name. Victoria Walker unravels some of the accumulated mythology around this writer, and examines her complex association with, and interest in, early twentieth-century psychiatry and psychotherapy. As well as being treated in private asylums and nursing homes, Kavan underwent a short analysis at the Tavistock Clinic, experienced Ludwig Binswanger’s method of existential psychotherapy at the Bellevue Sanatorium, and had a close personal relationship with her longtime psychiatrist Karl Bluth. Kavan promoted a radical politics of madness, giving voice to the disenfranchised and marginalized psychiatric patient and presaging the anti-psychiatry movement. Dr Victoria Walker’s research focuses on twentieth-century women writers and fictional representations of psychiatric treatment. She wrote the introduction to the recent edition of Kavan’s 'I Am Lazarus'. She teaches at King’s College, London and administers the Anna Kavan Society. Part of a season of performances, talks, films and events accompanying the exhibition 'Mad, Bad and Sad: Women and the Mind Doctors', 10 October 2013 - 2 February 2014.

Dr Cleo Van Velsen in conversation with Dr Lisa AppignanesiDr Cleo Van Velsen is Consultant Psychiatrist in Forensic Psychotherapy in a Personality Disorder Medium Secure Unit in East London. She is also a psychoanalyst. Although this is a male unit she has experience in the assessment, management and treatment of women in forensic contexts - women who have suffered trauma and engaged in violence. She discusses her experiences of working with forensic patients with Lisa Appignanesi, whose soon to be published book 'Trials of Passion' explores the intersection of the law and psychiatry.Part of a season of performances, talks, films and events accompanying the exhibition 'Mad, Bad and Sad: Women and the Mind Doctors', 10 October 2013 - 2 February 2014.

Dr Cleo Van Velsen in conversation with Dr Lisa Appignanesi Dr Cleo Van Velsen is Consultant Psychiatrist in Forensic Psychotherapy in a Personality Disorder Medium Secure Unit in East London. She is also a psychoanalyst. Although this is a male unit she has experience in the assessment, management and treatment of women in forensic contexts - women who have suffered trauma and engaged in violence. She discusses her experiences of working with forensic patients with Lisa Appignanesi, whose soon to be published book 'Trials of Passion' explores the intersection of the law and psychiatry. Part of a season of performances, talks, films and events accompanying the exhibition 'Mad, Bad and Sad: Women and the Mind Doctors', 10 October 2013 - 2 February 2014.

With a practice extending over 40 years, Susan Hiller is one of the most influential artists of her generation. Her ground-breaking installations, multi-screen videos and audio works have achieved international recognition and are widely acknowledged to be a major influence on younger British artists. Many of her works explore the liminality of phenomena including the practice of automatic writing (Sisters of Menon, 1972/79; Homage to Gertrude Stein, 2010) and collective experiences of unconscious, subconscious and paranormal activity (Dream Mapping, 1974; Belshazzar’s Feast, 1983-4; Dream Screens,1996; Psi Girls,1999; Witness, 2000). In 1994 Hiller exhibited the critically acclaimed After the Freud Museum and in 2011 Tate Britain held a major retrospective of her work. In conversation with psychotherapist, psychoanalyst, writer and social critic Susie Orbach she talks candidly about her life and work. Part of a season of talks and events accompanying the  exhibition 'Mad, Bad and Sad: Women and the Mind Doctors', 10 October 2013 - 2 February 2014, of which Susan Hiller is an exhibiting artist.

With a practice extending over 40 years, Susan Hiller is one of the most influential artists of her generation. Her ground-breaking installations, multi-screen videos and audio works have achieved international recognition and are widely acknowledged to be a major influence on younger British artists. Many of her works explore the liminality of phenomena including the practice of automatic writing (Sisters of Menon, 1972/79; Homage to Gertrude Stein, 2010) and collective experiences of unconscious, subconscious and paranormal activity (Dream Mapping, 1974; Belshazzar’s Feast, 1983-4; Dream Screens,1996; Psi Girls,1999; Witness, 2000).In 1994 Hiller exhibited the critically acclaimed After the Freud Museum and in 2011 Tate Britain held a major retrospective of her work. In conversation with psychotherapist, psychoanalyst, writer and social critic Susie Orbach she talks candidly about her life and work.Part of a season of talks and events accompanying the  exhibition 'Mad, Bad and Sad: Women and the Mind Doctors', 10 October 2013 - 2 February 2014, of which Susan Hiller is an exhibiting artist.

Sarah Churchwell In 1956 while filming The Prince and the Showgirl with Laurence Olivier, Marilyn Monroe suffered a crisis that brought her to see Anna Freud. Marilyn had a long history of encounters with the psychoanalytic profession. Her trajectory illuminates some of the difficulties celebrity engenders. Writer and broadcaster Prof. Sarah Churchwell, author of ‘Careless People: Murder, Mayhem and the Invention of The Great Gatsby’ and ‘The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe’, discusses Marilyn's life. Part of a season of performances, talks, films and events accompanying the exhibition 'Mad, Bad and Sad: Women and the Mind Doctors', 10 October 2013 - 2 February 2014.

Sarah ChurchwellIn 1956 while filming The Prince and the Showgirl with Laurence Olivier, Marilyn Monroe suffered a crisis that brought her to see Anna Freud. Marilyn had a long history of encounters with the psychoanalytic profession. Her trajectory illuminates some of the difficulties celebrity engenders. Writer and broadcaster Prof. Sarah Churchwell, author of ‘Careless People: Murder, Mayhem and the Invention of The Great Gatsby’ and ‘The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe’, discusses Marilyn's life.Part of a season of performances, talks, films and events accompanying the exhibition 'Mad, Bad and Sad: Women and the Mind Doctors', 10 October 2013 - 2 February 2014.

The affinity between Freud and Bloomsbury was obvious from 1910 and became productive when core members of the Bloomsbury group becoming psychoanalysts in the 1920s and the Hogarth Press became the official psychoanalytic publishing house. The lecture will explore the reasons for this affinity and also ask if the history of psychoanalysis in Britain has been radically different from other countries because of its original alliance with an entrenched anti-establishment elite from the English rentier class, both extremely well-connected and bohemian. John Forrester is Professor of History and Philosophy of the Sciences in the University of Cambridge, author of 'Language and the Origins of Psychoanalysis' (1980), 'The Seductions of Psychoanalysis' (1990), (with Lisa Appignanesi) 'Freud’s Women' (1992), 'Dispatches from the Freud Wars' (1997) and 'Truth Games' (1997). He is completing (with Laura Cameron) 'Freud in Cambridge', a study of the reception of psychoanalysis in the 1920s. He is interested in reasoning in cases in science, medicine and law. He is Editor of Psychoanalysis and History. Part of a season of talks and events accompanying the forthcoming exhibition 'Mad, Bad and Sad: Women and the Mind Doctors', 10 October 2013 - 2 February 2014. 

The affinity between Freud and Bloomsbury was obvious from 1910 and became productive when core members of the Bloomsbury group becoming psychoanalysts in the 1920s and the Hogarth Press became the official psychoanalytic publishing house. The lecture will explore the reasons for this affinity and also ask if the history of psychoanalysis in Britain has been radically different from other countries because of its original alliance with an entrenched anti-establishment elite from the English rentier class, both extremely well-connected and bohemian.John Forrester is Professor of History and Philosophy of the Sciences in the University of Cambridge, author of 'Language and the Origins of Psychoanalysis' (1980), 'The Seductions of Psychoanalysis' (1990), (with Lisa Appignanesi) 'Freud’s Women' (1992), 'Dispatches from the Freud Wars' (1997) and 'Truth Games' (1997). He is completing (with Laura Cameron) 'Freud in Cambridge', a study of the reception of psychoanalysis in the 1920s. He is interested in reasoning in cases in science, medicine and law. He is Editor of Psychoanalysis and History.Part of a season of talks and events accompanying the forthcoming exhibition 'Mad, Bad and Sad: Women and the Mind Doctors', 10 October 2013 - 2 February 2014. 

Author's Talk: Josh CohenThe war over private life spreads inexorably. Some seek to expose, invade and steal it, others to protect, conceal and withhold it. Either way, the assumption is that privacy is a possession to be won or lost. But what if what we call private life is the one element in us that we can't possess? Could it be that we're so intent on taking hold of the privacy of others, or keeping hold of our own only because we're powerless to do either? In this ground-breaking book, Josh Cohen uses his experience as a psychoanalyst, literature professor and human being to explore the conception of private life as the presence in us of someone else, an uncanny stranger both unrecognisable and eerily familiar, who can be neither owned nor controlled.Drawing on a dizzying array of characters and concerns, from John Milton and Henry James to Katie Price and Snoopy, from philosophy and the Bible to pornography and late-night TV, The Private Life weaves a richly personal tapestry of ideas and experience. In a culture that floods our lives with light, it asks, how is it that we remain so helplessly in the dark?Part of a season of talks and events accompanying the exhibition 'Mad, Bad and Sad: Women and the Mind Doctors', 10 October 2013 - 2 February 2014.

Author's Talk: Josh Cohen The war over private life spreads inexorably. Some seek to expose, invade and steal it, others to protect, conceal and withhold it. Either way, the assumption is that privacy is a possession to be won or lost. But what if what we call private life is the one element in us that we can't possess? Could it be that we're so intent on taking hold of the privacy of others, or keeping hold of our own only because we're powerless to do either? In this ground-breaking book, Josh Cohen uses his experience as a psychoanalyst, literature professor and human being to explore the conception of private life as the presence in us of someone else, an uncanny stranger both unrecognisable and eerily familiar, who can be neither owned nor controlled. Drawing on a dizzying array of characters and concerns, from John Milton and Henry James to Katie Price and Snoopy, from philosophy and the Bible to pornography and late-night TV, The Private Life weaves a richly personal tapestry of ideas and experience. In a culture that floods our lives with light, it asks, how is it that we remain so helplessly in the dark? Part of a season of talks and events accompanying the exhibition 'Mad, Bad and Sad: Women and the Mind Doctors', 10 October 2013 - 2 February 2014.

Author's talk: Andreas Mayer introduced by John Forrester

Author's talk: Andreas Mayer introduced by John Forrester

Giles Fraser in conversation with Adam PhillipsDr. Giles Fraser is a well known cultural commentator, priest and vicar of St Mary's Newington. He took a controversial stand on Occupy at St Paul's, resigning his post there in the process. He is also passionate about psychoanalysis.Adam Phillips is a psychoanalyst and writer, author of many celebrated books, among them Missing Out and Promises, Promises. He has just finished a biography of the young Freud, who understood religion as an illusion.Together they discuss psychoanalysis and religion.