Greek Mythology in Psychology

How Ancient Myths Shaped Modern Psychology

The influence of Greek mythology on psychology runs so deep that many people use mythological concepts without realizing it. Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and their successors built entire theoretical frameworks on the foundation of ancient Greek stories.

The Oedipus complex — Freud's theory that children experience unconscious desire for the opposite-sex parent — takes its name directly from the myth of Oedipus, who unknowingly killed his father and married his mother. The Electra complex describes the female equivalent, named after Electra who helped murder her mother Clytemnestra. Narcissism derives from Narcissus, the beautiful youth who fell in love with his own reflection and wasted away staring at it. Carl Jung's concept of archetypes — the Hero, the Shadow, the Anima — draws directly from the recurring character types in mythology. The term psychology itself comes from Psyche, the mortal woman whose name means 'soul' and whose myth with Eros represents the journey of the soul toward love and wholeness. Echo, the nymph cursed to repeat others' words, gives us the concept of echolalia. The term panic comes from Pan, whose sudden appearances in the wilderness caused irrational terror.