It's terrible how Freud gets the lad confused (8)
I believe the answer is:
dreadful
'it's terrible' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'freud gets the lad confused' is the wordplay.
'gets' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'confused' indicates an anagram.
'freud'+'lad'='freudlad'
'freudlad' anagrammed gives 'DREADFUL'.
'how' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for dreadful that I've seen before include "Appalling, awful" , "Horrible, shocking" , "Terrible" , "Dire, alarming" , "Informally very bad, perhaps the weather" .)