Wilhelm Reich
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Wilhelm Reich (March 24, 1897–November 3, 1957) was an Austrian-American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, who was trained in Vienna by Sigmund Freud.
In the 1930s, Reich claimed to have discovered a physical energy, which he called "orgone," and which he said was contained in the atmosphere and in all living matter. He developed instruments — orgone accumulators — to detect and harness the energy, which he said could be used to treat illnesses like cancer. His views were not accepted by the mainstream scientific community.
When his Mass Psychology of Fascism, published in 1933, was banned by the Nazis, Reich realized he was in danger; he moved to the United States in 1939, where he continued his orgone research. In 1947, following a series of articles about orgone in the The New Republic and Harper's, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began an investigation into Reich's claims about orgone therapy, and won an injunction against its promotion as a medical treatment. Charged with contempt of court for violating the injunction, Reich conducted his own defense, which involved sending the judge all his books to read. He was sentenced to two years' imprisonment.
In August 1956, several tons of Reich's publications were burned by the FDA. Reich died of heart failure in jail just over a year later, one day before he was due to apply for parole.
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He is known for three things
- He tried to join Marxism and psychoanalysis in studies of fascism, producing the book, The Mass Psychology of Fascism, see also Freudo-Marxism.
- He claimed discovery of what he called orgone energy, which many scientists still dispute and call [[pseudoscience].
- The persecution of him and his theories by the Nazi Gestapo in Germany, and later the US government (which burned his books) until his death in a US prison.
Bibliography
- German-language books
- Der triebhafte Charakter : Eine psychoanalytische Studie zur Pathologie des Ich, 1925
- Die Funktion des Orgasmus : Zur Psychopathologie und zur Soziologie des Geschlechtslebens, 1927
- Dialektischer Materialismus und Psychoanalyse, 1929
- Geschlechtsreife, Enthaltsamkeit, Ehemoral : Eine Kritik der bürgerlichen Sexualreform, 1930
- Der Einbruch der Sexualmoral : Zur Geschichte der sexuellen Ökonomie, 1932
- Charakteranalyse : Technik und Grundlagen für studierende und praktizierende Analytiker, 1933
- Massenpsychologie des Faschismus, 1933 (original Marxist edition, banned by the Nazis and the Communists)
- Was ist Klassenbewußtsein? : Über die Neuformierung der Arbeiterbewegung, 1934
- Psychischer Kontakt und vegetative Strömung, 1935
- Die Sexualität im Kulturkampf : Zur sozialistischen Umstrukturierung des Menschen, 1936
- Die Bione : Zur Entstehung des vegetativen Lebens, 1938
- English-language books
- American Odyssey: Letters and Journals 1940-1947 (posthumous)
- Beyond Psychology: Letters and Journals 1934-1939 (posthumous)
- The Bioelectrical Investigation of Sexuality and Anxiety
- The Bion Experiments: On the Origins of Life
- The Function of the Orgasm, 1942, translated by Theodore P. Wolfe
- The Cancer Biopathy (1948)
- Character Analysis (translation of the enlarged version of Charakteranalyse from 1933, translated by Theodore P. Wolfe)
- Children of the Future: On the Prevention of Sexual Pathology
- Contact With Space: Oranur Second Report (1957)
- Cosmic Superimposition: Man's Orgonotic Roots in Nature (1951)
- Early Writings
- Ether, God and Devil (1949)
- Genitality in the Theory and Therapy of Neuroses (translation of the original, unrevised version of Die Funktion des Orgasmus from 1927)
- The Invasion of Compulsory Sex-Morality (translation of the revised and enlarged version of Der Eindruch der Sexualmoral from 1932)
- Listen, Little Man! (1948, translated by Theodore P. Wolfe)
- The Mass Psychology of Fascism (translation of the revised and enlarged version of Massenpsychologie des Faschismus from 1933, translated by Theodore P. Wolfe)
- The Murder of Christ (1953)
- The Oranur Experiment
- The Orgone Energy Accumulator, Its Scientific and Medical Use (1948)
- Passion of Youth: An Autobiography, 1897-1922 (posthumous)
- People in Trouble (1953)
- Record of a Friendship: The Correspondence of Wilhelm Reich and A.S. Neill (1936-1957)
- Reich Speaks of Freud (Interview by Kurt R. Eissler, letters, documents)
- Selected Writings: An Introduction to Orgonomy
- Sexpol. Essays 1929-1934 (ed. Lee Baxandall)
- The Sexual Revolution (translation of Die Sexualität im Kulturkampf from 1936, translated by Theodore P. Wolfe)
- The Einstein Affair (1953)
The Mass Psychology of Fascism (1933)
See also
Films
- W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism (1971)
- Sweet Movie (1974)
