Wilhelm Reich

Only you yourself can be your liberator!

Summary

Wilhelm Reich (1897 - 1957) was an Austrian psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. He is best known for his studies on the link between Human Sexuality and Neuroses.

He extended the consequences of psychoanalysis to the body (giving the Unconcious a corporal dimension), especially to the muscles and Visceral functions. He believed suppressed emotion can be stored in the body as Bioenergetic tension and leads to the formation of neuro-muscular 'armour' or 'charactor armour'.

In his book The Function of the Orgasm, he denounced the political and social consequences of Sexual Repression as a way of controlling people (see Vital Unconscious and Biocentric Principle).

Ideas

• Reich gave the Id a corporal localisation. The concept of a Id extends this to the filed of political/ social repression. This repression was considered by Reich to be the cause of Psychosomatic Illnesses and muscular tension.
• He extended Freud's concept of Libido by associating it with energy flowing through the body. He broke Freudian taboo against touching the patient and developed techniques of body work that many therapists are now elaborating upon.
• Vegetotherapy (also known as Orgonomy) - a form of Reichian psychotheraphy that involves the physical manifestations of emotions.
• Character Analysis - in Reich's view, a person's entire character, not only individual symptoms, could be looked at and treated as a Neurotic phenomenon.
• Neuro-Muscular Armour - Suppressed emotion can be stored in the body as Bioenergetic tension and leads to the formation of neuro-muscular/ charactor armour.
• Sexual Repression - Reich agreed with Sigmund Freud that infant sexuality develops early but is repressed.

Vegetotherapy/ Orgonomy

Vegetotherapy is one of the oldest psychotherapeutic theories and methods:

• Originated with Reich (who was a student of Sigmund Freud), as a modification of psychoanalysis,
• Reich also called the therapeutic method Orgone Therapy and the underlying theory Orgonomy,
• Has a holistic view of the human being, including mental and bodily as well as relational factors in a person's life,
• Vegetotherapy (the term Vegeto refers to autonomic nervous system) means direct work on and with the body, ie Neuro-Muscular Armour which is seen as the counterpart of the character at the physical level.
• The aim is to free the energy flow and the free and creative functioning of the individual at all levels - physical, mental and emotional.

Character Analysis

Character Analysis is the analysis of the character which is seen as a stereotypical way of existence and behaviour:

• Looks for resistances in the patient's behavior - ways of talking, walking, moving,
• We have primarily one character structure - our character can imprison us in rigid and stereotyped reactions at the same time that we build our character as a defense against our environment,
• Character Armour is a compromise between our impulses and our social obligations - between what we want and what we think we should do.
• Reich took the idea of armour one step farther, to Neuro-Muscular Armour
• He focused on breaking down the Neuro-Muscular Armour through breathing and other techniques that moved body energies.

Neuro-Muscular Armour

One way in which the body protects itself from emotional intensity is by suppression, which leads to the development of chronic muscular tension called Neuro-Muscular Armour by Reich.

Function of Muscular Armour:

• To keep inside pontentially explosive emotions,
• To keep away the emotion of others,
• Men find it difficult to remove the armour as they are so accustomed to supressing feelings/ emotions,
• People cannot feel their armour,
• Reich believed that Mind-Body work is needed to remove armour.

Body Armour and Character Armour:

• Are essentially the same,
• Function is to protect against pain,
• Pain is caused by non-expression of things that society says must not be expressed,
• Muscular Armour is the expression of Character Armour in the body, where it causes rigity,
• Can lead to cancer, arthritis, and rheumatism.

Rings of Tension are blocks where muscular contraction prevents the free flow of energy. Reich identified 7 of these rings in the body:

• Occular - forehead, eyes, cheekbones, tear duct glands - inability to open eyes wide,
• Oral - lips, chin, throat - may find it hard to cry, grin, or grimace,
• Neck - holding back of crying, and anger.
• Chest - self-control, and restraint - holding back of anger,
• Diaphragm,
• Abdomen,
• Pelvis - pleasure turns into anger - muscular spasms.

Sexual Repression

Reich believed that Sexual Repression is caused by armouring:

• The sexual impulse is changed from something soft and gentle to something harsh and brutal,
• Inability to express sexuality causes rage, which must also be repressed, and then sex becomes mechanical and brutal,
• The pelvis is pulled back and thigh and buttock muscles tighten,
• There is a loss of the ability to feel pleasure from sexual acts.