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I was initially disturbed by the title and subtitle of this book. Freudian Fraud sounds to me as if Torrey was accusing Freud of promoting a dishonest theory in psychoanalysis, and The Malignant Effect of Freudian Theory on American Thought and Culture is a strong indictment of Freud and psychoanalytic theory. My first response was a phone call to Torrey for his explanation of this “Freud-bashing.” He answered my questions openly and graciously but with political astuteness. Having had an experience in which a publisher insisted on their own title for one of my books, I asked Torrey who chose the provocative title and subtitle of his book. Without hesitation he told me that he selected each and that he is pleased that they are so provocative. He likes to provoke because it often leads to a good healthy discussion. He added that he was not “thin-skinned” about being attacked in such a discussion. He knows that there are controversial parts of his book and he enjoys discussing them. For example, it is a moot point whether Freud should be responsible for the positions taken by his followers. I thought of the Wright brothers and wondered if they should be held responsible for today's fatal plane crashes. Torrey denied having any personal grudge or vendetta against Freud. He has never been in psychoanalysis himself but “has nothing against it.”
Freud actually developed an antipathy for America (Warner, 1991) and anticipated that psychoanalysis would become very popular in America, but for the wrong reasons. He even wrote:
I often hear that psycho-analysis is very popular in the United States…. It seems to me that the popularity of the name of psycho-analysis in America signifies neither a friendly attitude to the thing itself nor any specially wide or deep knowledge of it…. often we find in American physicians and writers a very insufficient familiarity with psychoanalysis, so that they know only its terms and a few catch-words…. [they] lump psycho-analysis with other syst