Le concept du démoniaque chez Sigmund Freud et Carl Gustav Jung

The depth psychology of Sigmund Freud has radically modified the approach to the question of morals. Psychoanalysis considers the moral principles as projections of the unconscious. Good and Evil, God and devil have no absolute value, but must be understood psychologically. In his work «A seventeenth century neurosis of possession by the devil» Freud describes the devil and the demons as representations and personifications of repressed contents of the psyche. From this viewpoint the psychological disturbance is a product of conflicts between the superego with its moral principles and the unconscious with its repressed drives. Therapy brings the repressed contents of the psyche into conscious awareness thus eliminating the repression of «bad» drives. C. G. Jung considers evil, the devil, the fallen angel and Antichrist as representations of repressed drives. Their repressions leads to the splitting between good and evil and to the religious concept of the opposition between the Trinity and the Devil. Yet, psychologically speaking, this process hinders individuation. Only the acceptance and integration of the psychic opposites of good and evil, of Christ and Antichrist can complete the self and lead to psychological health