Theodor Reik (German: [ʀaɪk]; 12 May 1888 – 31 December 1969) was a psychoanalyst who trained as one of Freud's first students in Vienna, Austria, and was a pioneer of lay analysis in the United States.

Reik received a Ph.D. degree in psychology from the University of Vienna in 1912 with his dissertation, a study of Flaubert's Temptation of Saint Anthony.

At that time, the medical practice in places directed by Wagner von Jauregg and Arnold Durig had been discredited by a former patient, Walter Kauders.

In November 1924, Durig asked Freud to write an expert evaluation about the question of lay analysis—that is, analysis practiced by individuals who are not medical doctors.

In December 1924, during a session of the Vienna Health State Board, Wagner von Jauregg asked for a list of the institutions using psychoanalysis.