The followings are the transcription of the speech given on November 17, 2018 by Dr. Stephan Simonian at an Orgonomy conference in Glendale, CA.
"Evolution of psychiatric orgone therapy from psychoanalysis and its medical, psychiatric and social consequences."
By: Stephan Simonian M.D.
Thank you all for coming. The part that is now on my shoulder in this conference is to describe how from psychoanalysis Reich developed into this Orgonomy. So it is rather a tall order since I only have 45 minutes to describe all this. I am going to put up on a slideshow and walk you through it. This process is described in the book "Function of Orgasm" which is about 400 pages and I’m going to walk you through this slideshow but I have to go a little fast and hopefully I’ll be able to describe it all. The title of my talk is "Evolution of Psychiatric Orgone Therapy from Psychoanalysis and its Medical Psychiatric and Social Consequences" so it ends up from psychoanalysis to all these different aspects that affects our lives.
Orgonomy grew in the womb of psychoanalysis.
Orgonomy grew in the womb of psychoanalysis, the founder of psychoanalysis was Sigmund Freud, Reich was a student of Freud and in the book "Function of orgasm" Reich praises Freud and says: "I spent 14 years of intensive work in and for psychoanalysis but in the end I was extremely disappointed in Freud. Fortunately this disappointment did not lead to hatred and rejection. Quite contrary today I can appreciate Freud’s achievement in a far better and deeper way then I could in those days of youthful enthusiasm I am happy to have been his student for such a long time without having to criticize him prematurely and with complete devotion to his cause". Freud gave a picture of himself as a remembrance to Reich, under the picture he inscribed " to Dr. Wilhelm Reich as a kind remembrance from Sigmund Freud dated 1925". This picture is at the Wilhelm Reich Museum in Rangeley Maine.
Sigmund Freud. The photograph is in inscribed (in German): "To Dr. Wilhelm Reich as a kind remembrance of Sigm Freud. March 1925."
To talk about how Orgonomy developed from psychoanalysis I’m quickly going to go over some of the psychoanalytic major theories.
Freud developed 3 major theories throughout his life.
Freud’s major theories
Libido theory (the theory of psycho-sexual energy)
Topographic theory (theory of Conscious and Unconscious)
Structural theory, (theory of Id, Ego and Superego).
The first theory is the libido theory which is the theory of energy. The second theory is the Topographic theory or theory of conscious and unconscious and the third theory is the Structural theory so called the theory of Id, Ego and Super ego. Freud had to assume an existence of an energy that operates in the newborn which is the source of propagation of life and neurosis develops when this energy is blocked. Instincts get their power from this energy.
Libido theory
Hypothetical psychosexual energy operating in newborn
Is the source of propagation of life
Neurosis develops when this energy is blocked
Instincts get their power from this energy source.
Topographic theory is a theory of conscious and unconscious. Freud stated that under the conscious mind there is a large segment hidden which is unconscious and it affects our lives. Neurotic symptoms are manifestation of conflict rooted in the unconscious and Freud postulated that by psychoanalytic technique, when the unconscious becomes conscious, neurotic symptoms should improve.
Topographic theory
Under the conscious mind there is a larger hidden segment of unconscious
Psychoneurotic symptoms are manifestations of conflict rooted in a person’s unconscious
Freud postulated that by psychoanalytic technique when the unconscious becomes conscious neurotic symptoms should improve.
The structural theory which is the last theory of Freud divides human psychological structure to three components: Id, which is the component that is composed of instinctual strivings, Ego which is the part which faces the word and negotiates with the word and Superego which is the internalized social parental and religious values which causes approval or disapproval and creates guilt and demands punitive measures.
Structural theory
Freud divided human psychological structure to 3 components
Id – Which are instinctual strivings
Ego – Face and interact with the world
Superego – Which is internalized social, parental and religious values, causes approval & disapproval, creates guilt and demands punitive measures.
Freud also proposed two types of neurosis, first type he called it stasis neurosis. This is caused by disturbance of the sexual life when there is damming up of the libido energy, because of poor sexual life or poor discharge of sexual energy and accumulation of the libido energy which causes toxic reaction such as palpitation, hyperventilation, high level of anxiety and that can be cured by counseling and by helping the patient not to be abstinent. Freud also proposed the second type of neurosis which he called it psychoneurosis which develops because of an unconscious conflict that needs psychoanalysis to resolve the conflict. However Freud agreed that underneath of each psychoneurosis there is a core of stasis neurosis and then with each stasis neurosis there is a component of psychoneurosis, so really there is no need for differentiation since each has part of the other one.
Freud suggested 2 types of neurosis
Stasis neurosis or actual neurosis, which is caused by disturbance of sexual life, damming up of libido energy (psychosexual energy) which causes toxic reaction in the body such as palpitation, hyperventilation and high level of anxiety and can be cured by counseling and helping the patient not to be abstinent
Psychoneurosis which develops because of unconscious conflict and can be cured by psychoanalysis.
However Freud agreed that underneath of each psychoneurosis there is a core of Stasis neurosis and with each Stasis neurosis there is a component of psychoneurosis. By this consideration no differentiation between neurosis and psychoneurosis seems necessary.
Freud’s technique, how we can go into unconscious and make the unconscious conflict conscious is the psychoanalysis. The technique that Freud proposed is that patient lies on the couch and the patient is encouraged to talk and say whatever comes to his mind, so called free associate. By free association one though brings another though like links of chain and eventually leads to the unconscious conflict. Freud suggested that when unconscious conflict of the neurotic symptoms becomes conscious, the patient should improve.
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Technique
Patient lies on couch and is encouraged to say whatever comes to his mind
By free association ideas and thoughts like links of chain will lead to unconscious conflict
Dream interpretation
This technique is to make unconscious roots of the conflict conscious and according to Freud patient should improve.
Freud also suggested dream interpretation because he says that there is some component of unconscious in a symbolic way in a dream and by the interpretation of the dream if we can decode the dream we will be able to help make the unconscious conscious. According to Freud when the unconscious conflict becomes conscious, patient will improve.
In psychoanalytic setting, the psychoanalyst sits on the top of the couch and the patient lies on the couch. Freud suggested by lying on the couch the free association happens more easily and patients are able to talk more easily. However psychoanalytic theory and technique does not always work. There is resistances and sometimes patients don’t free associate, they talk about irrelevant things and this process gets halted in the middle or even when the unconscious conflicts becomes conscious patient don’t always improve. In other words patient cognitively, intellectually understands why he/she feels miserable but he/she still feels miserable and things does not improve. Reich was following Freud’s technique; he realized that some patients do not get better when their unconscious becomes conscious.
Psychoanalytic theory and technique does not always work
Reich gives 2 examples of treatment of patients with conflicting results.
Reich gives two examples of many cases that he had seen. In the first example, the patient, was a student that Freud referred to him. He was suffering from obsessive thoughts and was constantly counting numbers. Reich followed the exact suggestions of Freud and did the analysis as Freud suggested. After a period of treatment, an incest fantasy broke through and after that patient was able to have a healthier sexual life and was able to have a gratifying sexual relation after which the symptoms improved. This was a proof that Freud’s theory and technique was correct. He was concomitantly analyzing a waiter. I’m going read this case because it illustrates what we want to say and how Reich started to depart from Freud. Reich was analyzing a waiter who was totally incapable of having an erection. Reich says: "During the third year of psychoanalysis we arrived at a perfect reconstruction of primal scene [means the scene that caused initial trauma to the patient]. He was 2 years old when this occurred. His mother gave birth to a child and from the adjacent room he had been able to observe every detail of the delivery. The impression of a large bloody hole between the mother’s legs became firmly ingrained in his mind. On a conscious level they remained only the sensation of emptiness in his own genitals. Based on psychoanalytic knowledge of that time, I mearly connected his inability to have erection to his severely traumatic impression of castrated female genitalia. This analysis was no doubt correct, at that time I incorrectly assessed the total personality of my patient. He was a very quiet, well mannered, well behaved person and did everything that he was asked to do. In a course of three years of treatment he never once became angry or exercised criticism, thus according to prevailing thought he was fully integrated adjusted character with only one acute symptom, monosymptomatic neurosis". Reich presented this case to the older analysts and was praised for his precise analytical work and they considered the analysis to be successful. However Reich wondered that if the treatment had in fact been successful then why had the patient not improved? Reich says: "It did not occur to anyone of us that it was precisely this emotional tranquility and unshakable calmness which formed the pathological characterological basis to which erectile impotence could be maintained. I terminated the analysis several months later and the patient had not been cured. The patient accepted the termination of treatment as he accepted everything else in his life with politeness, placidity and passivity".
From here on Reich moves to character analysis vs. symptom analysis
Patient’s whole character resists the treatment
It is not important "what patient says", It is important "how he says it".
From here on Reich moved into character analysis versus symptoms analysis. He realized that the sickness was the patient’s character that everyone thought it was an asset. In fact that was what was preventing him from getting better, so he moved from the symptoms analysis to character analysis. In another word Reich realized that it was not important "what the patient says", it is important "how he says it". If the character is intact then even if the patient discovers the unconscious reasons of his neurosis, the patient will only gain an intellectual insight to his problem, but the problem will persist. The first case proved correctness of Freud; the second case indicated that this technique does not always work.
The first case reflects correctness of Freud’s theory of neurosis and psychoneurosis (patient improved after having satisfactory sexual release) and after unconscious conflict became conscious
The 2nd patient, the waiter did not improve.
Hence Reich developed two major theories: Theory of armoring and Theory of orgasm. Both theories developed concomitantly and at the end they converge and become part of each other.
Hence Reich developed 2 major theories
A. Theory of Armoring
B. Theory of Orgasm
In other words armoring of the body, the character armoring, prevents the flow of energy and prevents the possibility of orgastic potency so these two theories they become integratal part of each other. The theory of armoring developed in the process of Reich’s work with the patient’s resistance to treatment. The treatment was sometimes successful and sometimes the patients were resisting the process of treatment. Reich realized that the character of the patient was what blocked the process.
The theory of armoring
The theory of armoring developed in the process of Reich’s work for psychoanalytic society in the process of dealing with patient’s resistances to treatment.
Reich discovered that the patient’s whole character resists the process of psychoanalysis, it resists the change like that aforementioned waiter who was able to discover the unconscious reason but his symptoms persisted.
Reich discovered that the patient’s whole character resists the process of psychoanalysis. It resists the change like aforementioned polite and agreeable waiter.
Reich discovered that to bring a fundamental and meaningful improvement to the patient the character resistance should be dissolved first. He developed a technique for character analysis to break that character resistance and bring the movement of emotions. He defined the character resistance as the character armor.
Reich discovered that to bring a fundamental and meaningful improvement to the patient, the character resistance should be dissolved first. He developed a technique of character analysis and called character resistance as character armor.
He defined character armor as sum total of character attitudes which an individual develops as a defense against his emotional excitements resulting in rigidity of the body and lack of genuine emotional contact.
Character armor is defined as the sum total of character attitudes which an individual develops as defense against his emotional excitations resulting in rigidity of the body and lack of genuine emotional contact.
As you may realize, Reich now is moving away from Freud by not doing symptom analysis but doing character analysis first. Although he is moving away from Freud, he is still working in the realm of psychology.
However the character of the patient has a physical counterpart, character armor has a physical and muscular counterpart which is functionally identical but works in the physical realm.
Character armor has a physical and muscular counterpart which is functionally identical with it but works in the physical realm.
In another word a patient who has learned to assume a pleasant attitude by constantly smiling, will develop muscular rigidity in his or her fascial muscles, the cheeks will become stiff, or a person who is constantly defensive and keeps the neck uptight, there will be a muscular contraction in his neck muscles and as time goes on the muscular contraction will become chronic and will becomes part of his personality. Reich gives an example of a muscular and physical armor in the book of Function of Orgasm,
Reich gives an example of muscular and physical armor in the book of "Functional Orgasm":
I treated a man who offered a considerable resistance to the uncovering of his passive homosexual fantasies…..
Reich says: "I treated a man who offered a considerable resistance to the uncovering of his passive homosexual fantasies. This resistance was overtly expressed in the extreme stiffness in his throat and stiff neck. A concentrated attack on his defense finally caused him to yield though in an alarming way. For three days he was shaken by acute manifestation of vegetative shock the paler of his face changed rapidly from white to yellow to blue, his skin was spotted and mottled, he experienced violent pains in the neck and back of the head, his heartbeat was rapid and pounding and had diarrhea. He felt tired and seemed to have lost control. I was uneasy, true. I had often seen similar symptoms but never in such a violent form. Something had happened here that while somehow a legitimate part of the work was not immediately intelligible. Affects or emotions had broken through somatically and physically after the patient had relinquished his attitude of psychic defense. Apparently the stiff neck which emphasized austere masculinity had bond vegetative energies, biosexual energy which now broke loose in an uncontrollable and chaotic manner. A person with an ordered sexual economy, healthy and natural sexual function, is not capable of such reaction only continues inhibition of damming up of biological energy can produce it. The musculature has served the function of inhibition when the neck muscle is relaxed powerful impulses as if unleashed from a taut coil had broken through".
Emotional armor and physical and muscular armor are counterpart of each other and are functionally identical with each other, one in the realm of psyche and the other in the realm of body.
From here on Reich is moving into muscular realm, he is moving from psychology into biology, into body. Emotional and physical armor are counterpart of each other and functionally are identical with each other. One in realm of psyche the other one in the realm of body but as you see he is moving away from Freud more and more, he is going into the physical biological realm..
This is a schematic depiction of how we see in the Orgonomy the relation between the body and psyche. There is a source of biological energy and psychosomatic identity but it divides, into Psche and Soma, but in the depth they are both merge together and are one. Dr. Reich developed and described a technique to dissolve the character armor and its counterpart physical armor. He developed a technique to break the character armor but for physical armor he also developed a technique and the technique is described in the book Function of Orgasm and Character Analysis and also Dr. Herskowitz who was his last student and recently passed away at age 100 had a book called Emotional Armoring that he described the technique in that book as well.
Dr. Reich developed and describes a technique to dissolve the character armor and its counterpart physical armor in the books of "Character Analysis" & "The Function of Orgasm" and Dr. Herskowitz described it in the book of "Emotional Armoring".
Armoring hinders the orderly flow of psychosexual energy (orgone energy, feeling and emotions) in the body and hinders orgastic potency armor should be dissolved. Therefore the theory of orgasm and the theory of armoring are inseparable from each other and are integral part of each other.
Reich says that in the cases that he was able successfully dissolve the armor and restore healthy sexuality, patients significantly changed and they changed unexpectedly, he gives some example of the changes that happens in the patients.
Reich says in the cases that he was able to successfully dissolve the armor and restore healthy sexuality changes in the patients were intense and unexpected. He gives the following examples:
Dr. Reich stated" quit spontaneously patients began to experience the moralistic attitude of the world around them as something alien and peculiar, no matter how tenaciously they might have defended premarital chastity beforehand now they experience this demand as grotesque. Such demands no longer had any relevance for them, they became indifferent to them. Their attitude towards their work changed. If they had previously worked mechanically not demonstrating a real interest now they became discriminating. The change in the sexual sphere was just as pronounced. Patients who had felt no qualms about going to prostitutes became incapable of doing so… wives who have patiently endured living with unloving husband and had submitted to the sexual act out of marital obligation could no longer do so and they simply refused, they had had enough". Reich says that when the armor is resolved and the sexual potency is restored the people developed characters like "Jesus Christ character".
Reich also developed the theory of orgasm. This theory corresponds with theory of neurosis of Freud. Freud said that when the libido energy is blocked neurotic symptoms develop. So the theory of orgasm also corresponds with theory of neurosis of Freud. Reich says that the orgastic impotence is not just one of many symptoms of neurosis but it is the most significant symptom as well as the cause of neurosis.
The Theory of Orgasm
This theory corresponds with Freud’s theory of neurosis
Reich says: That orgastic impotence is not just one of many symptoms of neurosis but it is the most significant symptom as well as the cause of neurosis.
In other words Reich said that every neurotic patient is sexually disturbed. Reich’s contemporary psychiatrists and psychoanalysts disagreed with him saying that they have many patients that are sexually very potent but they have neurotic symptoms. However that sexual potency when analyzed and probed little bit deeper, showed not a genuine potency. True they were capable of having sex but they either couldn’t reach orgasm or there were pre mature ejaculation or they had all types of strange fantasies. In Orgonomy healthy orgastic potency is defined as person’s ability to surrender to the flow of biological energy free of any inhibition or fantasy and its capacity to discharge completely the dammed up sexual excitation through involuntary pleasurable convulsions.
In Orgonomy healthy orgastic potency is defined as person’s ability to surrender to the flow of biological energy free of any inhibition or fantasy and its capacity to discharge completely the dammed up sexual excitation through involuntary pleasurable convulsions.
Orgasm theory is a rich theory and it encompasses concepts of expansion and contraction of living protoplasm and its psychological expression of pleasure and displeasure as well as its relation to autonomic nervous system. While the autonomic nervous system in the body that is responsible for pulsation and is involuntary and is causing expansion and contraction of the body.
Orgasm theory is a rich theory and encompasses concepts of expansion and contraction of living protoplasm and its psychological expression of pleasure and displeasure as well as its relation to autonomic nervous system.
So as you see, we are going from the psychology which is the highest order to character analysis then to the muscular attitude and body and then even deeper into the nervous system into the autonomic nervous system, so you see how deep and basic is Reich’s theories in the psychiatric treatment. It does not stop on psychology, it goes into the body and brings changes which are much deeper and therefore the changes in the patients are much basic and fundamental changes.
Sexual potency and the process of armoring both in deeper level are connected to function of autonomic nervous system which governs the involuntary process of contraction and expansion of the body by sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous branches.
Sexual potency and the process of armoring both in deeper level are connected to function of autonomic nervous system which governs the involuntary process of contraction and expansion of the body by sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous branches.
Now that we recognize the physical armoring by contraction of the muscles of the body tissues and its relation to autonomic nervous system, it is logical to conclude that many of the physical illnesses also arise from the armoring of the body. In other words, I want to show how logically Reich’s theories are progressing, how logically and scientifically it is progressing. Now if there is physical armoring, if there is a contraction in the muscular of the body as a result of armoring then there must be some changes in the physical domain in the physical area, in the body tissues.
Now that we recognize the physical armoring by contractions of muscles and body tissues and its relation to autonomic nervous system, it is logical to conclude that many physical illnesses can also arise because of the armoring of the body.
Reich in the book of cancer biopathy used the term biopathy for such physical conditions.
Reich says:
In the book of Cancer Biopathy Reich used the term biopathy for such physical conditions. Reich says: "The term biopathy refers to all disease processes caused by basic dysfunction in the autonomic or vegetative nervous system of life apparatus. Once started, this dysfunction can manifest itself in variety of symptomatic disease pattern. A biopathy can result in carcinomatous biopathy, but it can just as easily lead to angina pectoris, asthma, cardio vascular hypertension, epilepsy, catatonic or paranoid schizophrenia, anxiety neurosis, multiple schorosis, choria and chronic alcoholism etc. We are still ignorant of the function that determines the direction in which biopathy will develop". In another word why in someone biopathy causes angina pectoris and in other person cancer still needs to be understood. "Of prime importance to us however is the common denominator of all these diseases as disturbance in the natural function of pulsation".
Now if armoring of the organism is detrimental to its health then why does it happen?
Now, if armoring of the organism is such a detrimental thing to our health, if it’s such a bad thing then why does it happen? From here on we are entering into sociological sphere of Orgonomy, where Mr. Howard will talk about how Orgonomy enters into sociology. Armoring happens in the process of child’s interaction with his environment. The anti-sexual and authoritarian upbringings of the children which are prevalent in most cultures are the main cause of armoring. Schematically the process of armoring is as follows:
Armoring happens in the process of a child’s interactions with his environment.
The antisexual and authoritarian upbringings of children prevalent in most cultures are the main cause of armoring.
Schematically the process of armoring is as follows:
Schematically there is the drive of the child "D" and there is the inhibition that is exerted from the world "W". Initially the child protests, cries a bit, throws a temper tantrum but eventually submits to it. Part of the drive splits from the main drive and turns against it, so after a while there is no need for outer inhibitory force. The child’s organism itself does the work of inhibition. In some ways this is the schematic depiction of it. Many times patients tell me "doctor I hated when my mother or father was doing this to me but I find myself doing the same thing to my children".
Orgonomic model for a healthy organism is composed of core, middle layer and periphery.
The psychoanalytic theory has a model for the human psychiatric structure. Their model is based on, Id, Ego and Superego of Freud’s structural theory. Our model the orgonomic model, of human
psychological structure is based on core, middle layer and periphery. In a healthy organism where there is no armoring the impulses originates from the core and can manifest itself in the surface without distortion. An unarmored person is able to show the love, pleasure or the anger in an undistorted way if he wants to.
Diagram depicting basic function in armored organism. The inhibition of primary impulses produces secondary impulses and anxiety.
This is the depiction of the armored organism. In the armored organism however the person is unable to show what initial primary drive is. The armor prevents and distorts the feelings and changes them to something different. On the surface the person shows an exaggerated politeness like the waiter we talked about and manifests character traits but inside there is a distorted feelings and secondary drives that are different from the original impulse.
Once the organism becomes armored the primary impulses that are natural, rational love, natural sexuality, rational anger and rational hate becomes distorted.
Once the organism becomes armored the primary impulses that are natural, rational love, natural sexuality, rational anger and rational hate becomes distorted and it can show in a different ways. From here on sociological branch of Orgonomy develops which deals with sociocultural norms that causes armoring. Reich in the book of "Function of Orgasm: says:
"The patriarchal authoritarian era of human history has attempted to hold the asocial impulses in check by means of compulsive moralistic prohibitions. It is in this way that civilized man if he can be called civilized developed a psychic structure consisting of three layers. On the surface he wears an artificial mask of self-control compulsive insincere politeness and pseudosociality. This mask conceals the second layer the Freudian unconscious in which sadism, greed, lewdness, envy, perversions of all kinds etc. are held in check without however being deprived of the slightest amount of energy. This second layer is the artificial product of sex negating, culture and is usually experienced consciously as a gaping inner emptiness and desolation. Beneath it in the depth natural sociality, sexuality, spontaneous joy in work and capacity for love exist and operates. This third and deeper layer which represents the biological core of the human structure is the unconscious and it is feared. It is in variance with every aspect of authoritarian education and control. At the same time it is the only real hope man has of one day mastering social misery".
From here on sociological branch of Orgonomy starts which deals with socio-cultural norms that causes armoring.
Reich in the book of "Reich Speak of Freud" says that following:
But I assure you that there is no solution to this world’s problems unless this point is cleared up sociologically, politically, economically, psychologically, structurally, character logically, in every single respect. I don’t believe that there will be any solution of any social problem as long as children and adolescents grow up with a stasis of biological energy.
The biological energy that operates in the human organism in a pulsating manner originates and propagates throughout the body from autonomic ganglions and by autonomic nervous system.
Reich identified same energy, orgone energy in the atmosphere and tried to harvest it by different devices and use it medically.
From here on the biophysical branch of Orgonomy develops.
The biological energy that operates in the human organism in a pulsating manner originates and propagates through the body from the autonomic ganglions and autonomic nervous systems. Reich identified the same energy, orgone energy, in the atmosphere and tried to harvest it by different devices and used it medically. From here on biophysical branch of Orgonomy develops.
This is depiction of the function of the autonomic nervous system that originates and propagates biological energy in the human body. There is the core and the ganglions which are mostly prevalent in the hypogastric area and solar plexus in the lower abdomen and emittes the pulsating energy through the autonomic nervous system and causes expansion and contraction in the body.
Reich says: the basic theory belongs to Freud but I furthered it so much that he himself could not recognize it anymore.
Reich said "The basic theory belonged to Freud but I furthered it so much that he himself could not recognize it anymore".
Thank you and I hope I was able to present the content as it is promised in the title of this talk.
Scientific theory is a contrived foothold in the chaos of living phenomena.
