Freudians

Their theories about mythology and religion examined by Stefan Stenudd

This is a selection of significant authors on psychoanalytical subjects, admittedly following in Sigmund Freud's footsteps, who have written to some extent about myth and religion. It is unlikely to be complete, but covers his major direct students and others close in time to his active years, starting with Karl Abraham who connected with Freud in 1907 and ending with Erich Fromm, who never met Freud and gradually deviated from his doctrine.

Archetypes of Mythology

by Stefan Stenudd
This book examines Jungian theories on myth and religion, from Carl G. Jung to Jordan B. Peterson. Click the image to see the book at Amazon (paid link).

Psychoanalysis of Mythology

by Stefan Stenudd
This book examines Freudian theories on myth and religion, from Sigmund Freud to Erich Fromm. Click the image to see the book at Amazon (paid link).

Fromm was not the only one to do so, among the writers examined here. Several did by time go their own way, either on some minor issues or so that it led to a definite break from Freud. The first "outcasts" were Alfred Adler in 1911 and Carl G. Jung in 1914. Adler did not write at length on mythology, which is why he is not included in this book, whereas Jung did so in such quantity and making such an impression that he needs to be covered in a coming separate book. Another writer on mythology who left the Freudian movement was Otto Rank. He did so in 1924.

As with Freud, the views of his followers are explored through the texts they wrote on myths and religion. Of their books discussed here, the earliest one is Franz Riklin's Wishfulfillment and Symbolism in Fairy Tales from 1908, translated to English in 1915, and the latest is Helene Deutsch's A Psychoanalytic Study of the Myth of Dionysus and Apollo from 1969.

After that, strictly Freudian treatments on mythology of any significance are hard to find.

Freudians on Myth and Religion

This text is an excerpt from my book Psychoanalysis of Mythology: Freudian Theories on Myth and Religion Examined from 2022. The excerpt was published on this website in February, 2026.

© Stefan Stenudd 2022, 2026