The Neuropsychoses of Defence: A Revised Edition of Two Translations

Freud’s proposal of psychoanalysis has been constantly reviewed over the years. Both the positive and the negative criticisms address aspects that leave no doubt that Freud can be considered a great thinker whose contributions could easily be lost in translation. The Revised Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, edited by Mark Solms, is an excellent source to study Freud’s psychoanalytic theory in depth. The opportunity is now available to reexamine Freud’s papers and books from more precise versions of his views. This paper takes The Neuropsychoses of Defence as an example of this reexamination of Freud’s ideas. The article particularly facilitates the return to some of the crucial notions of psychoanalysis, such as defense, neurosis, affect, repression, conversion, and the unconscious. Additional to the translation and clarification of German terms, a second translation from neuroscience to psychoanalysis is described.