According to Dr. David Feinstein and Dr. Stanley Krippner, "A personal myth is a constellation of beliefs, feelings, images, and rules—operating largely outside of conscious awareness—that interprets sensations, constructs new explanations, and directs behavior.
For an internal system of images, narratives, and emotions to be called a personal myth, it must address at least one of the core concerns of human existence.
It overlaps in some ways with Eric Berne's (1961) notion of "scripts," Albert Ellis' (1962) description of irrational belief systems, George Kelly's (1963) personal construct theory, Theodore Sarbin's (1986) emphasis on narrative psychology, and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's (1979) concept of "life themes."
Carl Jung (1963) began his autobiography, Memories, Dreams, Reflections by writing, "Thus it is that I have now undertaken, in my eighty-third year, to tell my personal myth".
[3] In 1971, he met Joseph Campbell, the comparative mythologist whose work brought national attention to the importance of mythology in contemporary society.
Campbell's work, especially The Hero with a Thousand Faces and Creative Mythology, explored the role of personal myth-making in great depth.