1985 is the one hundredth anniversary of Freud's visit to Paris to study at the Salpêtrière with Charcot. The impact of that visit on Freud's understanding of the mechanisms responsible for the formation and removal of neurotic symptoms is assessed. An evaluation of the progress made in understanding the basis of therapeutic effects since that time is attempted. It is argued that our understanding has remained defective because we have continued to look at the problem from the perspective inherited from Freud, a perspective that identifies specific causes and specific remedies incorrectly and fails to give placebo effects their proper recognition. The obverse of this perspective has led us to pay insufficient attention to the ways patients seek help or experience the processes by which they resolve their problem