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May 21, 1962. THE APPLICATION OF EGO PSYCHOLOGY TO MYTHOLOGY: A PANEL PRESENTATION.
Dr. Sidney Tarachow, in his introduction, depicted the succession of themes that course through the history of man's development as shown in the evolution of religion and particularly the theater. The first theme, the conflict between the gods, was followed by the conflict between the gods and man, and then between man and man. The current theme is the struggle within man, his intrapsychic conflict. It is characterized by problems of guilt and ego structure, and by attempts to solve the ambivalence problem as well as the origin of the sense of guilt.
These problems are intimately connected with those of ego development; and the myth, Dr. Tarachow posited, can be understood as one of a number of devices which can come to the rescue of the 'faltering ego'. Myths ease the burden of ego synthesis and development, and facilitate a working through of disturbing problems. This working through has both an externalizing and an internalizing process: the externalizing process not only gives respite to the weary ego, but provides it with room for change and development; the internalizing process is used to solidify character formation and stabilize relationships; in this the myth plays a conservative role.