Michael Brearley OBE, President of the British Psychoanalytic Society and former England cricketer, will be giving this year’s Freud Memorial Lecture at the University of Essex later this month.

A full-time psychoanalyst, Michael Brearley writes and lecturers widely on psychoanalysis. A former cricketer, he captained England to the final of the 1979 Cricket World Cup, and to victory in the historic 1981 Ashes series. Michael Brearley has been described as ‘one of England’s greatest ever cricket captains’ and has written four books on cricket, including The Art of Captaincy (1985).

The Freud Memorial Lecture is hosted by the University’s Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies. The Centre is internationally recognised as one of the leading centres for work that focuses on the role of the unconscious mind in mental health as well as in culture and society generally.

During his lecture, Michael Brearley will illuminate two directions in which we can go in loving. In one, we exalt our object and ourselves, exaggerating and building up the passion involved. In the other we cynically devalue and knock down.

Michael Brearley’s lecture, ‘love and its distortions: exaltation and cynicim’ takes place on Thursday 27 May at 6pm in the University’s Lakeside Theatre, Colchester campus. Admission is free but by ticket only, telephone 01206 873640 or e-mail cpsadmin@essex.ac.uk. The Annual Freud Memorial Lecture is supported by the Freud family through Paterson Marsh Ltd. For more information, visit: www.essex.ac.uk/centres/psycho/.

Notes to editors
For more information, or if you would like to attend Michael Brearley’s lecture on 27 May in the University’s Lakeside Theatre, please contact the University of Essex Communications Office, telephone 01206 872807, e-mail comms@essex.ac.uk.