Freud's ideas have influenced almost every aspect of our lives, but have they been confirmed by experimental science? Did Freud say anything that was new or true? Has his influence been good or malign? To answer those questions, the author draws on his knowledge of recent psychological research and produces evidence indicating that we should now dismiss psychoanalysis as a pseudo-science. He explores the heroic myths Freud created about his own originality and the hostility he encountered - myths repeated to this day by credulous disciples. He argues that psychoanalysis, unlike behavioural therapy, is unsuccessful at curing neurotic patients and that Freudian theories about dream interpretation and the Oedipus complex, anal personalities and slips of the tongue, are, at best implausible.