Psychotherapy & The Daimonic

In this solo episode, I offer an in-depth exploration of Psychotherapy and the Daimonic, a remarkable essay by Rollo May, originally published in Myths, Dreams, and Religion, edited by Joseph Campbell.Rollo May introduces the daimonic as any natural force within the human being that has the power to take over the whole person. Far from equating the daimonic with evil or pathology, May argues that it names a fundamental dimension of human power—one that can be creative or destructive depending on whether it is consciously confronted or denied.In this episode, I situate May historically within the development of existential psychotherapy, explore his critiques of behaviorism and humanistic therapy, and reflect on his striking use of myth, language, and religious symbolism. Along the way, I examine themes such as aggression, loneliness, anxiety, repression, panic, and the role of naming in therapeutic change.Drawing on May’s discussion of figures like Rainer Maria Rilke and William James, I reflect on why naming alone is never enough—why words can disclose the daimonic but also conceal it through intellectualization—and how genuine healing requires a change in the myths by which we live.This episode is a philosophical and clinical meditation on psychotherapy not as symptom management or adjustment, but as a process of initiation: helping individuals come into conscious relationship with power, reclaim what once possessed them, and move from blind force toward meaning.