In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Austrian Sigmund Freud, physiologist and psychiatrist, laid the foundations of psychoanalysis as a therapeutic method with his studies and revolutionized the way modern man perceives concepts such as consciousness and sexuality.

With Totem and Taboo (Totem und Tabu, 1913), Freud explores the common points between the mental life of primitive man and that of neurotic patients. The work includes the essays: The Fear of Incest, The Taboo and Ambivalence, Animism, Magic, and the Omnipotence of Thoughts, and The Return of Totemism in Childhood.