Chaise Longues & Psychoanalysts
Exactly which lounger has to be London’s best known?
You might look in North London, at the Freud Museum, 20 Maresfield Gardens, Hampstead. This was in Freud’s London residence, where he developed his theories. The centerpiece is the great man’s office, exactly as it was while he used it, and located there is the world’s most famous sofa, maligned in a multitude of cartoons and gags. The couch itself isn’t English in origin, all the same. It had set out heading toward iconic status while still in place at Vienna’s Berggasse 19. As you might know, this was Freud’s residence during the time he was to develop his inventive psychological hypotheses. The recliner under discussion – comfortable, inviting and casual – is deservedly well-known, from its vital part through the development of psychoanalysis. Probably not so well known is the fact that the father of psychiatry’s armchair resides in the study. His easy chair is where he listened, hidden from the occupants of the lounger, during their “free association”.
Psychotherapy, free association, easy chairs and everything else typically associated with teachings have become a potent supply of gags for comedians, comics and so on from the outset, and possibly the smartest funnyman in this vein is Woody Allen, a man truly familiar with psychiatrists – aka shrinks – for about forty years.
“My poor analyst got so frustrated, the guy finally put in a salad bar. Maybe the poets are right. Maybe love is the only answer.” “I have an interesting case. I’m treating two sets of Siamese twins with split personalities. I’m getting paid by eight people.”
Isaac Davis: Hey, you call that guy that you talk to a doctor? I mean, you don’t get suspicious when your analyst calls you at home at three in the morning and weeps into the telephone? Mary Wilke: Alright, so he’s unorthodox. He’s a highly qualified doctor. Isaac Davis: He done a great job on you, you know? Your self-esteem is a notch below Kafka. To take one example, Marshall McLuhan said: “If the nineteenth century was the age of the editorial chair, ours is the century of the psychiatrist’s couch.” Another of Niles’ observations Niles Crane, perhaps? He’s also said “I have a session with my multiple personality. Not to worry: if I’m late, he can just talk amongst himself.”
Last but not least, there’s the evergreen: “After 12 years of therapy on the couch, my psychiatrist finally said something that truly brought tears to my eyes. He said, ‘No hablo Ingles.’”