Mythology and Psychology :)

In the Article, "The Legacy of Greek Mythology" by Michael Chiklis, it explains how ancient Greeks in general were big on the understanding of the human mind. Their ways of thinking, and their myths, have become very significant in the study of Psychology. Chiklis states, "Sigmund Freud borrowed many of his ideas from Greek mythology for developing his theories on human psychosexual development, consequently providing the names as the Electra Complex and Oedipus Complex". A Swiss psychiatrist named Carl Jung, also relied on Greek mythology to justify his belief in the inborn recurring ideas present in all men which he called archetypes. Jung believed that these archetypes were common to all people and were how mythological themes came to be.

I definitely enjoyed reading this piece on the relationship of psychology to mythology. It started to make me think back to my psychology class that I’m taking right now and all of the possible relations that it has to mythology. The Electra and Oedipus Complex is where the child has an affection towards the opposite sex parent and is even jealous of the same sex parent. These terms relate both in name and definition to mythological stories being that there was much incest going on throughout the Greek Mythology stories. I never would have made that connection if I wouldn’t have read this.

"The Legacy of Greek Mythology." News in English. Ï Êüóìïò, 02/13/2009. Web. 13 May 2010. .

http://60.241.173.43/kosmos/2009/02/13/page_31_news_in_english.pdf