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Freud's Pandemics: Surviving Global War, Spanish Flu and the Nazis

Author(s) : Brett Kahr

Reviews and Endorsements

A vivid account of how Sigmund Freud coped with the great 'pandemics' of his time, from the Great War and Spanish Flu to cancer and the Nazis. By assessing how my great-grandfather might have addressed COVID-19 – the pandemic of our own times – Professor Kahr opens up a series of insights into the life of the man who championed the radical innovation of actually listening to people suffering from mental affliction. Meticulously researched, and written with real pace, this book is a timely reminder of the psychological roots of our response to national trauma.
Lord Freud, great-grandson of Sigmund Freud and President of the Freud Museum London

Never has there been a time when Freud was needed so badly. Post-pandemic blues would not have been new to Freud as Brett Kahr describes in his phenomenal book, which I feel was sent to save us from confusion and turmoil. A must read!
Jane McAdam Freud, artist, and great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud

Brett Kahr’s immersion in Freud – the gift that keeps on giving – will help us survive the trauma of pandemics in our own lives. Kahr draws insightful parallels from Freud’s own struggles and serves as a timely and fascinating reminder of the ubiquitous nature of pandemics and why suicide isn’t the answer.
Professor the Baroness Hollins, Past President of the Royal College of Psychiatrist and Professor Emerita at St. George’s Hospital Medical School, University of London

In his compelling new biography, the first in the new Freud Museum London series, Professor Brett Kahr explores Freud’s many near-death experiences and how these traumas shaped the development of his psychoanalytical therapy. [...] Describing his book as ‘the first exclusively traumatologically oriented portrait of Freud’, Kahr provides an unflinching account of the horrors Freud had to face over many decades and the psychological legacy of these dreadful events.
Catharine Arnold, editor of New Psychotherapist and author of Pandemic 1918: The Story of the Deadliest Influenza in History, New Psychotherapist, Winter/ Spring 2022