Dr. Wilhelm Reich was an Austrian psychoanalyst who developed innovative theories about sexuality, character, and psychosomatic medicine. Some of his major ideas included orgastic potency, character analysis involving seven body segments, and the concept of orgone energy. He published works on topics like masturbation, neurosis, fascism, and the sexual revolution. Reich's focus on releasing suppressed emotions through the body influenced fields like body psychotherapy. However, his theories on orgone energy and devices to measure it were controversial and not scientifically validated. Overall, Reich made important contributions to psychoanalysis but some of his later ideas faced significant criticism.

1. Chair person: Dr. P. Vijayasree
Asst. professor in Psychiatry
Presenter: Dr. D. Ravi Varma
Post Graduate

2. WILHELM REICH

3. SCHEME OF PRESENTATION
 Introduction
• Biography
• Intellectual Background
• Reich’s Ideas:
• Reich’s Works:
 Concerning specific forms of masturabation
 Genitality in the theory and therapy of neurosis
 Mass psychology of fascism
 Sexual revolution
• Evaluation
• Conclusion
• References

4. Austrian Psychoanalyst, a member of the second
generation of analysts
After SIGMOUND FREUD

5. Biography
 Wilhelm Reich was born on March
24, 1897 in Austro-Hungarian
Empire, now Ukraine.
 Until he was 13 years old, Reich was
educated at home by tutors.
 His parents were Jews.
 His mother killed herself and four
years later his father died of
tuberculosis.
 At the age of 17, he joined the army
where he reached rank of lieutenant.

6.  He maintained in his dairy that his first sexual experience
was at the age of four when he tried to have sex with the
family maid (with whom he shared a bed), that he would
regularly watch the farm animals have sex, and
 That he had almost daily sexual intercourse from the age
of 11 with another of the servants.
 He wrote of regular visits to brothels, the first when he
was 15, and said he was visiting them daily from the age
of around 17.
 He also developed sexual fantasies about his mother,
writing when he was 22 that he masturbated while
thinking about her

7. Intellectual Background
 There were two major influences for Reich’s Work:
SIGMUND FRUED KARL MARX

8. Education and career
 In 1918 the First war finally ended. Reich
entered the Medical School at the University
of Vienna.
 As an undergraduate, his recognition of the
importance of sexuality had drawn him to the
work of Sigmund Freud.
 Reich began his private psychoanalytic and
psychiatric practice in 1922.
 Reich's extensive clinical work and research
ultimately led to conflicts with Freud.
 And in doing so he observed that sexual
energy is more than just an idea, and that
sexual gratification, in fact, alleviated
neurotic symptoms.

9.  He discovered that the function of the
orgasm is to maintain an energy equilibrium
by discharging excess biological energy that
builds up naturally in the body.
 If that discharge function is disturbed the
energy continues to build up without
adequate release, stagnating and exhibiting
neurotic disorders.
 Reich also discovered that in psychic
disturbances, this biological energy is bound
up not only in symptoms, but more
importantly, in the individual's
characterlogical and muscular rigidities--
what he called "armor.

10. WILHELM’S IDEAS
 ORGASTIC POTENCY
 CHARACTER ANALYSIS
 Character structure
 Reich Seven segments of body
 VEGOTOTHERAPY
 ORGONE ENERGY

11. Orgastic potency
 Orgastic potency is the ability to experience
an orgasm with specific psychosomatic
characteristics.
 For Reich, "orgastic impotence," or failure to
attain orgastic potency always resulted in neurosis,
because during orgasm that person could not
discharge all libido(which Reich regarded as a
biological energy).
 According to Reich, "not a single neurotic
individual possesses orgastic potency."

12. Character Analysis
 A character structure is a system of
secondary traits that are manifested in the
specific ways that an individual relates and
reacts to others, to various kinds of stimuli,
and to the environment
 Reich argues that character structures were
organizations of resistance with which
individuals avoided facing their neurosis:
different character structures—whether
schizoid, oral, psychopathic, masochistic or
rigid—were sustained biologically as body
types by unconscious muscular contraction.

13. • Reich argued for these five basic
character structures, each with its own
body type developed as a result of the
particular blocks created due to
deprivation or frustration of the child's
stage-specific needs.
The Unwanted child
(schizoid)
The Needy Child
(oral)
The Endurer
(Masochist)
The Controller/Leader
(Psychopath)
The perfectionist/
Obesessional
(rigid)

14.  Growth = process of dissolving the
physical and psychological armor..
 As Reich defined various character
types, he also outlined how these
various defensive styles manifest as
blockages in the body. His schema of
blockages started with the eyes and
head, and ended at the pelvis,
correlating the segments with how
energy circulates from top down.
 He relied increasingly on release
emotions, by working with the body.

15. Ocular Segment
 Eyes are point of contact with others and perception of the world.
 Ocular armor makes the vision skewed and distorted, and misinterpret,
makes feel more fear and confusion, and creates an entire world-view
based on unclear perception.
 With ocular armoring, one feel closed down to others, have chronic trust
issues, and become suspicious, hyper-vigilant, and controlling.
 In relationships, one feels difficulty making contact, creating space in
eyes for the other, and looking directly with an open and genuine
expression.
The Seven Segments of the body by Reich

16. Oral segement
•This segment includes the mouth, jaw, throat, and back of the head.
•Presence of armoring in this segment can be quite apparent both in
behaviors and physical symptoms.
•In infancy, first critical need is to obtain nourishment, which is met
through mouth with milk from mother’s breast or bottle.
•One experiences degrees of satisfaction, frustration, or deprivation.
•This stage, with its emphasis on feeding, includes contactful nurturing; a
warm, relaxed, and secure bodily and emotional context; and a resonant
bond with the mother or caretakers that allows for abiding trust to
establish and grow.
THE SEVEN SEGMENTS OF THE BODY BY REICH

17. THE SEVEN SEGMENTS OF THE BODY BY REICH
Cervical segment
•Contain deep muscles of neck
•Feeling of tight and squeezed is because of blocking or armoring in this
segment as tension or rigidity in neck.
•During feelings and expressions, an experience of a lump in throat; a
lump of pain, during swallowing, crying, sobbing or anger is due
armour.

18. 39
•. Thoracic Segment
•It contains our vital organs: the heart and lungs.
• When get tensed, anxious, angry, or depressed one feel those
emotions in chest.
•Anxiety is reflected in rapid, shallow, breathless breathing.
•Angry, breath speeds up –muscles tighten- release anger either with
vocalizations or through hand and arm gestures.
•Depressed- feel a heavy weight on chest pressing us down
DIAPHRAGM
•Contains the diaphragm, stomach, internal organs and muscles that are
along the lower thoracic vertebrae
•Affects the openness of breath. If segement is tight, breath is stopped
from easily moving into our abdominal cavity
•Frequent nausea and some stomach disorders are reflective of block in
the diaphragm. Also, freedom to vomit speaks to this segment being
more flexible.
THE SEVEN SEGMENTS OF THE BODY BY REICH

19. Pelvis
• Pelvic muscles and lower extremities
• Armoring in the pelvis create lack of sensation and
sensitivity in the genitals affects sexual function.
• When sensations and excitations are absent, lose our
interest in sex and that function atrophies which ultimate
diverts to mental and physical problems
THE SEVEN SEGMENTS OF THE BODY BY REICH
Abdomen
•The sixth armor ring is the abdominal segment. It includes the
large abdominal muscles, as well as the muscles of the back.
•The side muscles hold tension.
• The abdominal segment end-to-end from the esophagus to the
anus are lined with sheaths of neurons that influence our mental,
emotional and physical states.
.

20. Vegetotherapy
 Vegetotherapy is a form of Reichian psychotherapy that
involves the physical manifestations of emotion
 Reich argued that "the feeling of unity of all body sensations
which increases with each new dissolution of an armor ring,“
leading ultimately to a merger with the autonomic functions of
the body.
 The practice of vegetotherapy involves the analyst enabling
the patient to physically simulate the bodily effects of strong
emotions.

21. Vegetotherapy
 Technique is to palpate or tickle areas of
muscular tension, also known as "body armour".
 This activity and stimulation eventually causes
the patient to experience the simulated emotions,
thus theoretically releasing emotions pent up
inside both the body and the psyche.

22. Orgone Energy
 Its main properties:
 No mass.
 It is everywhere.
 It is the means of electromagnetic and gravitational
activity.
 It is in constant motion.
 High concentrations attract more of this energy.
 Form units that become centers of creative activity.
 Reich designed special "orgone accumulators"—devices
collecting and storing orgone energy from the environment—
for improvement of general health.

23. Orgone accumulators
 Five-foot-tall box
 Made of plywood lined with rock wool
and sheet iron, and had a chair inside and
a small window
 Multiple layers of these materials, which
caused the orgone concentration inside
the box to be three to five times stronger
than in the air
 Accumulators were tested on plant
growth and mice with cancer.
 Reich wrote that orgone is "definitely
able to destroy cancerous growth.

24. Reich's Orgasm-Powered Cloudbuster
 Later in accordance with his new
belief that the atmospheric
accumulation of orgone radiation
caused drought, Reich designed a
cloudbuster.
 The machine consisted of a row of
tubes aimed at the sky, attached to
hoses immersed in water.

25. MAIN WORKS
 Concerning forms of masturabation
 Genitality in the theory and therapy of neurosis
 The Sexual revolution
 The mass psychology of fascism

26. Concerning forms of Masturbation
 In his forms he wrote many variations of both female and
male masturbation
 The essay of the forms was presented to the Vienna
Psychoanalytic Society.
 From surveying, Reich wanted to separate out healthy
forms of masturbation from unhealthy ones.
 It formed the basis for Reich's later views on the role of
genitality in the therapy of neurosis.

27. Genitality in the theory and
therapy of neurosis
 In it, Reich proposed, based on his therapeutic experience
and empirical studies, that orgastic potency should be used
as a decisive criterion for mental health.
 Neurotic disorder, according to Reich, was always based on
a more or less pronounced "orgastic impotence".
 According to Reich, if a man permanently unable to
experience a "complete orgasm", it would cause a blockage
of the libido, which would produce a variety of disorders.
Reich saw the treatment goal of psychoanalytic treatment as
the restoration of "orgastic potency".

28. Mass Psychology of Fascism
 The Mass Psychology of
Fascism book by Wilhelm Reich,
in which the he explains
how fascists come into power,
and explains their rise as a
symptom of sexual repression.
As a result of writing the book,
Reich was kicked out of
Germany. The book was banned
by the Nazis.

29. The Sexual revolution
According to Reich, the authoritarian
state uses a variety of tools in order to
suppress its citizens' natural sexualities.
These tools comprise Reich's view of
"conservative, sex-negative moralism"
and include:
 The ideology of lifelong, monogamous
marriage, he calls "compulsive
marriage";
 The suppression of infantile sexuality,
the primary cause of unnatural sexual
desires and perversions later in life;

30.  A lack of candid sexual education or sexual freedom
for adolescents;
 The persecution of "abnormal" sexualities such as
homosexuality;
 The illegality of abortion;
 Marriage as a legalized institution, and the lack of an
"incompatibility" reason for divorce.

31. Evaluation
 Reich was the greatest expert of psychology and body somatic
therapy. In reality, only a small number of psychologists are seriously
interested in somatic psychology..
 Reich's focus on muscular armor and emotional release through body
work has attracted less interest than they deserve.
 Alerting the expression of suppressed emotions like anger, fear and
aggression, it remains a controversial topic in psychology.

32. Conclusion
 Wilhelm Reich (24 March 1897 – 3 November 1957) was
an Austrian psychoanalyst, a member of the second
generation of analysts after Sigmund Freud.
 The author of several influential books, most
notably Character Analysis, The Mass Psychology of
Fascism and The Sexual Revolution.
 Reich's work on character contributed to the
development of Anna Freud's The Ego and the
Mechanisms of Defence
 His idea of muscular armour – the expression of the
personality in the way the body moves – shaped
innovations such as body psychotherapy.

33.  The tried to reconcile psychoanalysis with Marxism,
arguing that neurosis is rooted in sexual and socio-
economic conditions, and in particular in a lack of what he
called "orgastic potency.
 Coined the term "orgone" – from "orgasm" and
"organism”
 He said he wanted to "attack the neurosis by its prevention
rather than treatment."

34. Books he Discovery of Orgone, Volume 1: The Function of the Orgasm, 1942 (Die Entdeckung des Orgons Erster Teil: Die Funktion des Orgasmus, translated by
Theodore P. Wolfe)
 Character Analysis, 1945 (Charakteranalyse, translated by Theodore P. Wolfe)
 The Sexual Revolution, 1945 (Die Sexualität im Kulturkampf, translated by Theodore P. Wolfe)
 The Mass Psychology of Fascism, 1946 (Massenpsychologie des Faschismus, translated by Theodore P. Wolfe)
 The Discovery of Orgone, Volume 2: The Cancer Biopathy, 1948
 Ether, God and Devil, 1949
 Cosmic Superimposition: Man's Orgonotic Roots in Nature, 1951
 The Invasion of Compulsory Sex-Morality, 1951
 The Oranur Experiment: First Report (1947–1951), 1951
 The Murder of Christ (The Emotional Plague of Mankind), 1953
 People in Trouble (The Emotional Plague of Mankind), 1953 (Menschen im Staat)
 The Einstein Affair, 1953
 Contact with Space: Oranur Second Report, 1951–1956, 1957
 Journals(ed.) International Journal of Sex-Economy & Orgone Research, 1942–1945
 (ed.) Annals of the Orgone Institute, 1947–1949
 (ed.) Orgone Energy Bulletin, 1949–1953
 (ed.) CORE – Cosmic Orgone Engineering, 1954–1955
 PosthumousSelected Writings: An Introduction to Orgonomy, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1960
 Reich Speaks of Freud, Souvenir Press, 1967
 Sexpol. Essays 1929–1934, Random House, 1972
 The Sexual Struggle of Youth, Socialist Reproduction, 1972 (Der Sexuelle Kampf der Jugend)
 Early Writings: Volume One, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1975
 The Bion Experiments: On the Origin of Life, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1979 (Die Bione: Zur Entstehung des vegetativen Lebens)
 Genitality in the Theory and Therapy of Neurosis Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1980
 Record of a Friendship: The Correspondence of Wilhelm Reich and A.S. Neill (1936–1957), 1981
 The Bioelectrical Investigation of Sexuality and Anxiety, 1982
 Children of the Future: On the Prevention of Sexual Pathology, 1983 (the chapter entitled "The Sexual Rights of Youth" is a revision of Der Sexuelle Kampf der
Jugend)
 Reich's autobiographical writings in four volumes:
 Mary Boyd Higgins and Chester M. Raphael (eds.), Passion of Youth: An Autobiography, 1897–1922. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1988
 Mary Boyd Higgins (ed.), Beyond Psychology: Letters and Journals 1934–1939, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1994
 Mary Boyd Higgins (ed.), American Odyssey: Letters and Journals 1940–1947, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999
 Mary Boyd Higgins (ed.), Where's the Truth?: Letters and Journals, 1948–1957, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012

35. REFERENCES
 Kaplan and Sadock’s Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry,
9th edition
 Kaplan & Sadock’s Synopsis of Psychiatry, 11th edition
 http://www.wilhelmreichtrust.org/biography.html
 Character Analysis, Reich Wilhelm, 1975, 5th enlarged
edition, New York, Farrar Publishing.
 Wilhelm Reich : The Evolution of his Work, Boadella
David, 1973, Vision Press, Chicago.
 Reich, W. (1990) Character Analysis (Chapters I-III), 3rd,
enlarged edition, trans. Vincent R. Carfagno

36. Thank you