Helene Deutsch: A Psychoanalyst's Life

by Paul Roazen

Student and protege of Sigmund Freud, Helene Deutsch was one of the most influential psychoanalysts of her time. An early woman analyst, Deutsch was an ardent feminist and a leading proponent of Freud's controversial theories about the psychology of women. Deutsch was also one of the first prominent career women to combine a professional life with motherhood-even though she never resolved her own conflicts over those contradictory demands. At the time of her death in 1982 at the age of 97, Helene Deutsch was the last survivior of Freud's original circle from Vienna. This volume is a definitive account of the life and works of this remarkable-and enigmatic-woman. The author knew Deutsch personally and was given exclusive access to her papers after her death.The private life of Helene Deutsch was as unconventional as her professional life. While Felix Deutsch, a physician who specialized in psychosomatic medicine, was to remain her husband for fifty years and father her son, Martin, their relationship was highly eccentric. Roazen produces evidence that indicates Felix Deutsch may have been homosexual; also that their son was raised primarily by Felix, as Helene was more interested in her career than was Felix in his, and the Deutsches often lived continents apart.With the rise of Nazism, Helene Deutsch departed in 1935 for America She was welcomed in Cambridge, Massachusetts by the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and was made director of the Society's new institute for the training of analysts. Her two-volume The Psychology of Women, published in 1945, remains one of the foundations of modern analysis. Roazen's biography is an authoritative portrait of a pioneer of psychoanalysis, and one of the unique women of her day. It will be of interest to psychoanalysts, cultural historians, and specialists in women's studies.

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Steven Monrad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detailed biography by prominent Freud authority.
A Polish MD psychiatrist successful practicing analyst before becoming Freud's favorite student.
President of analytical societies in Vienna and Boston, missing Hitler.
Mistress from 14 to prominent Polish socialist, much later married long-term to MD analyst.
Controversial for being an early authority on feminine psychology and femininist
but reviled by modern feminists for unwillingness to repudiate Freud himself.
Early prominence before academic structures in place, sceptical of her profession.
Unable to prevent her only child from repeating, towards her, the hatred she had for her own mother.
History of analysis movement personalities, depressing actually.