Medusa complex
A psychological complex of petrified emotion from the Medusa myth.
The Medusa complex is a psychological concept that draws on the classical myth of Medusa to describe the petrification or freezing of human emotion. It was introduced in 1948 by Gaston Bachelard to characterize a mute, paralysed fury induced by the threat of the parental gaze, where an individual consciousness risks obliteration by an external Other.
Quick Facts
- Coined by
- Gaston Bachelard
- Year coined
- 1948
- Core concept
- Petrification or freezing of human emotion
- Key figures
- Marion Woodman
- Marjorie Garber
- Francois-Xavier Gleyzon
Facts from the source article.
More in Words and Phrases Derived from Greek Mythology
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