What Actually Heals? Freud, Neuroscience, and the Talking Cure: A Lecture and Discussion with Professor Mark Solms

Subject: Mark Solms on the Science of the Talking Cure

A two-hour webinar for therapists of every orientation. 2 CPD units for psychologists.

Dear Colleague,

Most of us were taught that Freud had been discredited. Yet almost every therapist relies on ideas he introduced: that symptoms have meaning, that the past shapes the present, and that talking within a relationship can change how a person feels and lives.

We are delighted to invite you to a two-hour conversation with Mark Solms, PhD, psychoanalyst, neuropsychologist, and founder of the field of neuropsychoanalysis. In his entertaining and enlightening new book, The Only Cure: Freud and the Neuroscience of Mental Healing, he argues that brain science is confirming the core of what Freud discovered about mental suffering, even where Freud's specific theories were wrong.

This is not a webinar about psychoanalysis. It is about what actually heals, for therapists who practice CBT, EMDR, somatic, couples, or integrative therapy.

We'll explore three questions:

1.     Why symptoms make sense: feelings as signals of unmet needs, and symptoms as protective solutions.

2.     How talking changes the brain: emotional experience, prediction, memory reconsolidation, and the therapeutic relationship.

3.     What we've gotten wrong, and what to take home: practical lessons for every orientation.

Sunday, November 15, 2026 
9–11 AM Pacific 
noon–2 PM Eastern 
7–9 PM South Africa

Online 

2 CPD units for psychologists at no extra charge

In collaboration with the Marin County Psychological Association, San Francisco Psychological Association, San Francisco Psychotherapy Research Group, and UCSF Division of Palliative Medicine.

Registration: $50, or free for members of CO-SPONSORING ORGANIZATIONS using your organization's code.  All profits will be donated to the International Rescue Committee/ Ukraine.

REGISTRATION LINK

We hope you'll join us.