Helene Deutsch

Her theories about mythology and religion examined by Stefan Stenudd

Helene Deutsch (1884-1982) was one of the first and one of the few women to get a noticed position in the psychoanalytic movement. Born in Galicia, she enrolled in medical studies 1907 at the university of Vienna, remaining there for several years working at a clinic. In 1916, she read Freud's Interpretation of Dreams, which made her attracted to psychoanalysis.

Archetypes of Mythology

by Stefan Stenudd
This book examines Jungian theories on myth and religion, from Carl G. Jung to Jordan B. Peterson. Click the image to see the book at Amazon (paid link).

Psychoanalysis of Mythology

by Stefan Stenudd
This book examines Freudian theories on myth and religion, from Sigmund Freud to Erich Fromm. Click the image to see the book at Amazon (paid link).

She was analyzed by Freud and also by Karl Abraham, becoming in 1918 the second woman to be admitted to the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society. The first one was Hermine Hug-Hellmuth, who was also the first child psychoanalyst. In 1935, Deutsch moved to the United States, where she remained for the rest of her long life.

She stayed expressly loyal to Freud all her life, but that did not stop her from venturing into her own theories, sometimes deviating slightly from those of Freud, though remaining within the paradigm of psychoanalysis. The main portion of her writing deals with the psychology of women, which was treated sparsely by Freud and most of his followers. As for the subject of mythology, she dedicated one book to the myths of Dionysus and Apollo rather late in her professional life — A Psychoanalytic Study of the Myth of Dionysus and Apollo, published in1969.

Though the two main characters of her book are men, the theme is their relation to their mothers, which is confirmed already by the subtitle Two Variants of the Son-Mother Relationship. Those are indeed opposite variants, where Dionysus is portrayed as saving his mother and Apollo as killing mothers. The Oedipus complex, so dear to Freud, she dismisses as irrelevant here:

The fact that the assumed psychological intrusion of another Greek figure, Oedipus, into the family life of Dionysus and Apollo seems not to be of consequence makes my concentration on the son-mother relationship less complicated.^[1]

That might have upset Freud, had he not been dead for 30 years when this book was published.

Dionysus Saving his Mother

Deutsch starts her chapter about Dionysus by praising his contributions to agriculture, especially that of wine, and to "the emancipation of mortal women."^[2] Therefore his statue should be in every agricultural organization and at the entrance to girls' dormitories, but with a distinct note that "the statue is not to commemorate Dionysus's orgastic rites."

In order to find the rationality behind the irrational nonsense of the myth, and understand its meaning, she applies psychoanalysis:

In my approach to this myth, which I consider to be new, I shall try to use the same psychoanalytic methods as we use in the treatment of our patients.^[3]

Considering that this is a text from 1969, it is doubtful that her approach can be regarded as new. Freud and several of his disciples had written extensively about myths with a very psychoanalytical perspective, indeed, not far from that used in their therapies.

Not to mention Jung — but he is not mentioned at all in Deutsch's book, although the Jungian mythologist Joseph Campbell is, as well as Károly Kerényi, together with whom Jung wrote a book in 1942 on mythology where Dionysus is discussed at length.^[4] It must have ben her loyalty to Freud that made her shun from even mentioning the foremost disciple of his to desert him. But it is an omission that casts doubts on her scientific honesty.

Dionysus is a complicated mythological figure already by having alternative versions even regarding his birth and lineage. Deutsch combines a couple of them, seeing those as describing different aspects of the story, i.e., of its psychological meaning.

At the core of the Dionysian myths, she finds two topics, "Dionysus's bisexuality and his struggle for immortality."^[5] There is also his relation to his mother playing a role in both those topics, mainly by being absent during his childhood and because she was a mere human, which would make him less of a god. Here, Deutsch uses the version of the myth where the mother is Semele. The father, in just about all versions, is Zeus.

As for his bisexuality, Deutsch finds it indicated by "his not always masculine behavior," which in turn was caused by his childhood "lacking in objects for masculine identification."^[6] His personal struggle, then, is one between his masculinity and femininity.

This is a strange and outdated view on bisexuality. It is not the result of femininity in men, or for that matter masculinity in women. That doesn't even make any sense. Such a line of reasoning would instead lead to the equally fallacious idea of homosexuality caused by femininity in men and masculinity in women. Also, what is that femininity and masculinity really? There are no character traits being exclusively female or male. Those are just stereotypes that fall apart upon closer examination.

Bisexuality is the attraction towards both genders, and it is proven to exist among both "female" and "male" personalities, as also Greek mythology tells us. Zeus was by all stereotype standards exceptionally "male" but still bisexual, which Deutsch herself mentions in the following chapter about Apollo.^[7] So were several other deities. That was not an issue in Ancient Greece, which is frequently made clear in the writing of Plato.

It was more of a sensitive issue in Deutsch's days, but she could hardly claim to make sense of ancient mythology by applying modern conventions and prejudice to it. That would certainly trigger the wrath of Zeus.

Still, she goes so far as to interpret the outcome of the story, with Dionysus bringing his mother to Olympus:

The victory of Dionysus's masculinity over his femininity was necessary for, and has made possible, the unification of mother and son — and thus, at last, as god and goddess!^[8]

Deutsch was far from alone among the psychoanalysts of her days to foster these strange ideas about masculinity, femininity, and sexuality. Heterosexuality and fixed gender roles were regarded as healthy conditions, and deviations from these norms were seen as neurotic. When applied to the Greek myths, these views could but lead astray.

Apollo Killing Mothers

About Apollo, too, there are many myths describing his background and activities differently, and Helene Deutsch uses bits and pieces from several of them. She explains that it is not her goal to compare these versions and estimate their validity, but:

I wish, rather, to follow the psychological paths of Apollo's mythical life, to arrive at a plausible unification of these paths, by applying the analytic method of interpretation, where there is sufficient material.^[9]

She adds in a footnote that she found Pindar's Odes the most valuable of the sources, "because his writings are true to the purely mythical character of Apollo." It is unclear what she means by that. The sun god is certainly mythical since he cannot be confirmed as a historical figure, but any account of him would make that obvious.

In her view, Apollo nourished hostility towards women, especially mothers, and had several of them killed. Not his own mother, though. Deutsch sees this as a process in which a darker, pre-Homeric period ruled by female deities connected to earth were conquered by the male rulers of heaven. Apollo played the major role in this, and he won a lot by it: "Apollo's mythological status as sun-god was achieved through matricidal acts against earth-goddesses"^[10]

That description of primeval events in Greek mythology can certainly be discussed. Interestingly, though, she does not see this change of rulership as negative. She calls these earth-goddesses the dark rulers of the world and representatives of death, and paints a discouraging picture of the world before Apollo's conquest:

It must have been a dark, cold and gloomy world! Apollo came to conquer this world and to wrest the rule from women to grant it to men, to change matriarchy to patriarchy, darkness to light.^[11]

But it was not any altruistic wish for a better world that led Apollo to the killing of mothers. Deutsch presents several reasons. One was his overwhelming anxiety of motherhood as such, because of its mystery and hence danger to men.^[12] Another was that women's constant presence beside Zeus stole his attention from Apollo, whose love for his father was the center of his life.^[13] Fundamentally, though, "the unconscious elements of Apollo's psyche have their roots in the mythical past in which mothers ruled."^[14]

As with Dionysus, Deutsch discusses the bisexuality of Apollo, but sees that of the former as within himself and manifested by projection, whereas that of Apollo is more complicated: "He is psychologically androgynous, both homosexual and heterosexual." She does not expand on what that might mean, but calls his love "mostly narcissistic; he loves men like himself."^[15]

The narcissism is not hard to spot. It is a prominent characteristic of any deity, regardless of gender, maybe even unavoidable because of their elevated status and superhuman powers. Just by them acknowledging their own grandeur, they can be described as narcissistic.

But Deutsch links it to homosexuality,^[16] as if homosexual love would be a covert kind of self-love. That is highly doubtful, especially since narcissistic behavior is found among heterosexuals as well.

Calling Apollo both homo- and heterosexual is a strange way of using those labels. What can it mean other than bisexuality? Deutsch regards Apollo's sexuality as androgynous, as if he needed to be part male to love women, and part female to love men. This link between sexual preferences and gender identity is common among psychoanalysts, but it remains to be proven. It seems to be firmly rooted in the Freudian — and Jungian — paradigm that anything but heterosexuality is some kind of dysfunction.

Regarding both Apollo and Dionysus, Helene Deutsch makes a number of claims that in their lack of arguments are little more than opinions. She interprets characters and their actions quite freely, and draws conclusions from those interpretations. That would still be fine, if those interpretations and conclusions were reasonable. But they are full of contradictions and far-fetched assumptions, mostly because of her obvious prejudice about gender as well as sexuality. She even calls bisexuality an eternal problem of mankind.^[17]

It would be more adequate to call it an eternal problem of psychoanalysis.

Notes

Helene Deutsch, A Psychoanalytic Study of the Myth of Dionysus and Apollo: Two Variants of the Son-Mother Relationship, New York 1969, pp. 10f. ↑
Ibid., p. 13. ↑
Ibid., p. 15. ↑
Carl G. Jung & Károly Kerényi, On a Science of Mythology: The Myth of the Divine Child and the Mysteries of Eleusis, transl. R. F. C. Hull, New York 1949 (originally published in 1942). ↑
Deutsch 1969, p. 16. ↑
Ibid., p. 18. ↑
Ibid., p. 77. ↑
Ibid., p. 43. ↑
Ibid., p. 50. ↑
Ibid., pp. 51f. ↑
Ibid., p. 65. ↑
Ibid., p. 82. ↑
Ibid., p. 76. ↑
Ibid., p. 66. ↑
Ibid., p. 71. ↑
Ibid., p. 72. ↑
Ibid., p. 71. ↑

Freudians on Myth and Religion

This text is an excerpt from my book Psychoanalysis of Mythology: Freudian Theories on Myth and Religion Examined from 2022. The excerpt was published on this website in February, 2026.

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