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Wilhelm Reich (/ r aɪ x / RYKHE; German: [ˈvɪlhɛlm ˈʁaɪç]; 24 March 1897 – 3 November 1957) was an Austrian doctor of medicine and a psychoanalyst, a member of the second generation of analysts after Sigmund Freud. [1]
Wilhelm Reich was born on March 24, 1897 in Galicia, in the easternmost part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, now Ukraine. He grew up in the Bukovina on a large farm operated by his father. His first language was German, and until 1938 he was an Austrian citizen.
- Biography
- Reich vs. Freud
- Bion Experiments
- T-Bacilli Experiments
- Character Analysis
- Orgone Energy
- Controversy
- References
Wilhelm Reich was a psychoanalyst who developed a number of radical psychoanalytical and physical theories. An apprentice of Freud, he believed that neuroses, as well as physical illnesses such as cancer, derived from a lack of “orgone energy” in the body. Reich proposed that this energy could be restored through treatments such as generating sexua...
Although the apprentice of another iconoclast — Sigmund Freud, Reich formulated ideas and theories that psychologists considered to be far more revolutionary (Morris, 1985). However, Reich, unlike his predecessor, was ultimately met with silence and dissension. For one thing, Reich was an open advocate of communism during the late 1920s, while both...
Based in Oslo, Norway, in the mid-1930s, Reich conducted experiments seeking the origins of life. Reich examined protozoa — single-celled creatures with nuclei. He grew cultures using grass, beach sand, iron, animal tissue, potassium, and gelatin. After heading the materials to incandescent with a heat torch, he noted the presence of bright and glo...
In his 1936 book Beyond Psychology, Reich wrote that there were two types of single-celled organisms: life-destroying organisms that form through organic decay and those that form from inorganic material that comes to life (Reich, 1945). This idea of spontaneous generation led Reich to believe that he had found the cause of cancer. He called life-d...
Reich formulated the basis of a field called character pathology. Character, or personality pathology, refers to the enduring patterns of cognition, emotion, and behavior that negatively affect a person’s adaptation to the social world. These traits develop in childhood and, without treatment, persist throughout one’s lifespan (Morris, 1985). Prior...
Reich developed a theory that the ability for someone to feel sexual love depended on their physical ability to have sex, as determined by what he called “orgastic potency.” Reich attempted to measure the male orgasm, noting four distinct physiological phases: firstly, psychosexual build-up or tension; secondly, the engorging of the male sex organs...
Reich received criticism both at the journalistic and legal levels. In 1954, the Food and Drug Administration of the United States filed a complaint ordering that a number of Reich’s materials and books could no longer be distributed, resulting in the incineration of a large amount of Reich’s works. Among these destroyed works was Reich’s Character...
Morris, B. (1985). The rise and fall of the human subject. Man, 722-742. Reich, W. (1933). On character analysis. The Psychoanalytic Review (1913-1957), 20, 89. Reich, W. (1945). Experimental Demonstration of the Physical Orgone Energy. Int. J. Sex-Economy and Orgone Research, 4(2-3), 133-146. Reich, W., & Wolfe, T. P. (1961). The discovery of the ...
Oct 8, 2024 · Wilhelm Reich (born March 24, 1897, Dobrzcynica, Galicia, Austria-Hungary [now in Ukraine]—died Nov. 3, 1957, Lewisburg, Pa., U.S.) was a Viennese psychiatrist who developed a system of psychoanalysis that concentrated on overall character structure rather than on individual neurotic symptoms.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Sep 7, 2024 · Wilhelm Reich developed a metal-lined device named the Orgone Accumulator, believing that the box trapped orgone energy he could harness in groundbreaking approaches towards psychiatry, medicine, the social sciences, biology, and weather research.
- Mary Bellis
Oct 9, 2024 · Austrian*psychoanalyst whose combination of Marxism and psychoanalysis influenced a generation of political activists and writers in Europe and the US. In later life, he became an extremely controversial figure because of his rather eccentric views.
Wilhelm Reich was born in 1897 in the north-east part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in what is now Ukraine. His native tongue was German; his cultural/ethnic background was secular Jewish. Reich was raised on a farm and educated at home by tutors.
