When Scott Richards was ten, he learned that his father was mentally ill. Overnight, Scott’s feelings of security changed to fear and confusion. Why couldn’t doctors make his father well? Why did his father’s suffering continue despite faith and love? And what, if anything, gives people hope when life begins to fall apart?

Those childhood questions eventually led Richards to the front lines of one of the most significant—and controversial—movements in modern psychology. Inspired by psychologist Allen Bergin’s courageous challenge to Sigmund Freud’s belief that religion is psychologically unhealthy, Richards devoted his career to investigating whether spirituality might be essential to emotional healing rather than an obstacle to it.

Dissent from Freud interweaves an intimate family story with an extraordinary career journey. It follows Richards from small-town Alberta to graduate school, missionary service, marriage, heartbreaking personal losses, fierce academic battles, groundbreaking scientific research, and ultimately leadership in an international effort to bring spirituality back into mainstream psychology. Along the way, he encounters profound spiritual experiences, betrayal by colleagues, unexpected triumphs, and a fuller understanding of how faith and spirituality can promote healing and recovery.

At once personal and intellectually compelling, Dissent from Freud is more than the story of one psychologist’s career. It is the story of one son’s search to understand his father’s suffering—and how that search ultimately helped change the conversation about faith, healing, and the human soul. It is an inspiring memoir about endurance, love, purpose, and the hope that science and religion can work more fully together for the welfare of humankind.